To be honest, I'd seen ferrets here and there in pet stores, but I'd
never paid them much mind.  I'd been told you couldn't mix ferrets with
cats and I had cats.
 
Then a friend in California started to tell me about her ferrets.  They
sounded cute, but I had cats.  Fate happened and that same friend moved
across country and came to live with us.  Just before the move, tho, one
of her ferrets two passed away.  Kitten had been an albino girl and she
was missed.  When a coworker asked if I was interested in her daughter's
ferret, (The child had become dangerously asthmatic to the point of
needing a nighttime monitor and home respirator for attacks and Mom
ordered all fur-bearing critters out.)  I accepted the 'little albino
girl' as a surprise for my friend.  Fluffy turned out to be a black-eyed
white boy, but he was a total sweetheart.  He was the first ferret I
really got to know.  He was eventually renamed Mercury.
 
In the weeks between getting Mercury and my friend arriving, I went to a
local pet fair.  At the fair, I stopped by a ferret shelter booth.  On a
whim, I asked if they had any silver mitt males, which my friend had
described when telling me about her first and only male who was gone.
The man said they did so, out of curiosity, I made arrangements to go see
them.  Was I surprised to see so many ferrets!  The gentleman also bred
so I got to see his breeders and kits as well as the shelter kids.  I was
handed an 11 month old dark silver mitt.  I was still looking around and
listening to the shelter dad when, without thinking, I held the little
guy up to my face.  Needless to say, he bit my chin.  I guess the bite
made me really look at him, but I was hooked.  I adopted him that day.
I adopted him for myself, not my friend as I'd intended.  Demetri was my
heart's joy and I loved him dearly.  He was a good boy except for his
habit of testing the 'no bite' rule on everyone he met.  ( New person.
*nip* 'No bite, Demetri!' Okay, can't bite him.  Oh, another new person.
*nip* 'Demetri!' *okay, can't bite him either.)  I lost my boy last year
at 7 years old to a total urinary blockage.  It was a great honor to have
his picture chosen to be in this year's FML calendar.  He was Mr. April,
in all his silly, posing glory.  Thank you, everyone who voted for him.
 
Anastasia Kidd
New Jersey
[Posted in FML issue 4247]