Thought we'd like to share some good news!
 
On December 2, I added a new generation of ferrets to my clan.  I'd been
looking to add some "young blood" to my family for a while, and thanks to
Chris and Tara Palaski, who run the Chester County branch of the PFRA, it
finally happened.
 
I welcomed two six and a half week old baby ferrets to our family.  One is a
little sable and the other a darling chocolate.  They have been named 'Lil
Grunt (sable) and Kerplunk (chocolate), and my God, are they tiny!  Their
tails are shorter than my index finger!
 
I had eight ferrets, plus the shelters of course.  Why add?  (As if I need
to clarify this here!!) Well, my "family" is pretty old, well, getting
there.  My Ricky and Sassy are my oldest, they will celebrate their seventh
birthday on Valentine's Day.  Ricky has suffered a number of
strokes/seizures (not insulinoma) and as a result he is now a tad retarded
(but very happy, he does not suffer).  Sassy was just diagnosed with
insulinoma--very tragic as she has never in her life been ill, honestly!
Shadow is going to be six on January 1st.  He's in great health, thankfully,
but his activity level has been decreasing (as his weight has been
increasing :-) ).  Slinky will be six years old in April, and he's starting
to show his creaky bones as well.  Here Comes Trouble will be five years old
this coming April (my God where does the time go?) and my Koto just turned
four in September.  The only really "young" ferrets that I had were my
Mookie and Mikayla, who are going to be two years old in March.  All ferrets
except for Shadow and Trouble came to me through the shelter and could not
leave for one reason or another, and therefore I did not share in their baby
years, I did not name them, I didn't get to learn their personalities young
nor could I help to mold them.  I'd forgotten what it was like to have a
baby!
 
After my Patches passed away :-( I decided that I needed some spirit
lifting.  I couldn't keep on doing what I do, rescuing ferrets and seeing
horrible things, and then watch my own ferrets grow old, sick, and pass away
without balancing it with some joy and pleasure.  Yes, selfish, but very
necessary.  I decided that I wanted to find some baby ferrets to be just
mine.  My opportunity came when Chris and Tara offered to give me a ferret
baby as a wedding gift (the best present I could get!  :-) So finally, on
Tuesday, the opportunity came and I picked out my little darlings.
 
Kerplunk was almost named Puddles, because in the first twenty minutes that
we knew him, he peed on me, Chris, Tara, and a dog six times, he was so
frightened!  I coudn't subject him to that horrid name for all of his life,
though, and Kerplunk seemed to fit him.  'Lil Grunt was named because from
the moment I got him, all he did was make these funny, almost duck-quack,
noises.  The first night I had him, every time I put him down and tried to
walk away, he just kept making these noises, but if I picked him up, he
stopped.  It was just so sweet!
 
They have adjusted SOOOO well to being here.  They're already caged with
Mookie and Mikayla, they love them.  We even had a communal romp tonight
with eight ferrets out and they all got along splendidly.  And when any of
the bigger ferrets tried to bully the babies, they stood right up for
themselves and harmony won.  They hardly bite, never hard, and they give
such ENTHUSIASTIC kisses, I can't believe I waited this long to have new
babies.
 
Well this is pretty long so I'll go, but I have a feeling that I'm gonna
want to share more joy, so I hope you all want to hear it!  ;-^
 
Kymberlie Becker Barone
Director, Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association
"Forget Puppy Love...There's nothing Greater than Ferret Love!" TM
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/ferretlady
[Posted in FML issue 2148]