Grover was my first.  Last July/August, I had been thinking about getting a
ferret for a while, and had been voraciously reading everything I could get
my hands on.  At the time, I had just graduated from chiro college and was
planning on moving to WA state.  I couldn't have animals (aside from my
cat) where I was living, so I had sort of promised myself once I got moved,
that I would bring a fuzzy or two into my life.
 
Well, on one of my house-hunting trips, I came across an ad in the Little
Nickel, ferret & everything for $100, up in Lynnwood.  Something about
the ad bothered me, so I called them up.  I found a wonderful (small!)
dark sable MF boy being kept in a garage (and sometimes allowed outside
unleashed/unsupervised), the teenagers had become bored with him
apparently.  A big Midwest cage, but no shelves, just the floor.  No
litterbox.  The father was *embarassed* to tell me that the ferret's
name was Bandit.  You get the picture.  :-( (He also either lied or was
misinformed about the ferret's age, but that's another story.)
 
So...I bought him, then and there.  Couldn't stand to walk away knowing the
poor sweet guy was living in that situation.  Loaded everything into the
back of my car, had the ferret in the carrier (part of the purchase) and
whisked him back to Oregon with me.  He got the name "Grover" on the way
home. :-)
 
Of course, I still couldn't keep him at home because of my living
situation, so he ended up boarding at a ferret shelter for a long while.
The first shelter, he stayed at only for a couple days before he moved up
to the CFN (which was closer, so I could visit more easily) but not before
he met his new best friend, Onyx.  So the two of them stayed at the CFN for
a couple of months until I got myself relocated.  Not the best situation,
you might say, but FAR better than living in that @#$!@ garage!  Plus, the
CFN took AWESOME care of Onyx and him...souped him, gave him meds, and
generally provided the expertise I wasn't up to speed with quite yet, and
taught me tons about being a good Ferret Mom in the process...
 
And having them teach me was a darned good thing because that fall,
Grover was diagnosed with a raging case of Helicobacter/ulcers and I
was then "tossed in and made to swim" with all the vomit, diarrhea,
Flagyl-spat-all-over-me, souping, etc... Poor Grover has had a pretty
tough life, poor sweetie.  The ulcers are all better, now... and he has
shown me that he actually DOES know how to dook and wardance and play
(which he never did before) and I've even caught him stealing socks and
crinklebags!  It makes my tears come to my eyes every time I see him put
on a playface and do a backflip in joy, or come up to me for kisses.
 
Lately, he's starting to show signs of adrenal disease, and it just breaks
my heart because it's like, Lord, what else can be dished out to this poor
sweet little boy???  But he'll get the best care I can give him, no matter
what.
 
Megan & Grover, Onyx, Loki G., Satinka & Cherry
[Posted in FML issue 2610]