Lucky's Story
 
Lucky came to our shelter from a Humane Society in Mass.  We were told that
she came from a severe abuse situation - exactly what were weren't told.
 
Lucky was a pitiful sight.  A tiny albino female, made to look even smaller
by her thinness.  She was missing one of her rear legs; her pale pink eyes
were sightless.  The Society's vet had just completed a treatment for severe
earmites.  But, we were told, she was very sweet.  That she was.
 
It was on my way back from picking her up that I realized why they named her
"Lucky" - after the old joke about the dog who had lost one ear in a fight;
a leg after being hit by a car; lost an eye to a cat.  "He was called
Lucky."
 
For a blind, three legged ferret, Lucky got around quite well.  She sniffed
her way around the boundaries of our home and followed the scent of the
other ferrets as best as she could.  She was even good at locating the
various litterboxes.
 
A NHFOC  club member heard about Lucky and told a friend who owned two
ferrets.  The friend said that she wanted to take Lucky home to see how she
would get along with hers - a trial basis.
 
We were understandably apprehensive those first couple of days after Lucky
went to her new home, but the first reports were encouraging.  She was
getting along well with the other ferrets, and even the "ferret hating"
Miniature French Poodle.
 
Later that week came the report that there was "no way" we were getting
Lucky back.  The other two ferrets had adopted her and had begun to lead her
around the house, showing her where all the "neat things" were that they
could get into.  One would take the lead; the other ran along right behind
giving Lucky a nudge in the right direction if she got confused.  Like an
army of soldier ants marching in a line, they spread their destruction far
and wide, in typical ferret fashion.
 
With her two seeing-eye ferrets, it didn't take Lucky long to learn her
routes around the entire house.  Before long we were getting reports that
she learned how to climb up on the couch and from there to the window sill;
how to get into the cabinets; where all the dog's toys were hidden; where
the socks were stashed; and all of those important ferret necessities.
 
Before long she didn't need the seeing-eye ferrets.  She could go anywhere
in the house as fast as, and sometimes even faster than her four legged
counterparts.  One of her favorite games was to knock over the wicker
umbrella stand and crawl inside.  There she would lie in wait, like a trap
door spider, until she heard the soft padding of ferret feet approaching.
Then she would leap out and grab the unsuspecting ferret and drag it inside
her lair.
 
Lucky has now taken over the second story of the ferret condo.  If she
wants to be alone, any ferret venturing up the ramp gets met with a white
bulldozer that rolls it back down the ramp.  No one gets up there until
Lucky is ready to cuddle to sleep.
 
Lucky has lived up to her name.
 
Dick B.
[Posted in FML issue 1573]