My wife and I have served as a foster home for FerretsFirst Rescue in
Annandale, VA for 3-1/2 years now. We are one of several families that
foster the ferrets that are not good candidates for adoption due to
their age or medical condition. We provide them with a loving home
until they are ready to go to the Rainbow Bridge. Believe me, we spoil
them all rotten. They get out to play every morning while we are
getting ready for work, and every night for a couple of hours before
we go to bed. There's always plenty of soup, N-Bones and hugs. There's
a giant toy chest, Tuff Tubes, a carpeted ferret condo and a dig box
filled with rice. Our bedroom is a ferret playground.
Because they are older and/or have health issues, this sometimes means
they're only with us for a little while before they are ready to cross
to the Bridge. We've gone through quite a few passings in the 3.5 years
that we've been fostering and most of the time we have enough notice to
prepare ourselves emotionally for what is about to happen. I'm learning
to accept this as an event that is as much a part of life as life
itself - I'm not totally crushed for days anymore when it happens.
I've never felt compelled to post a tribute here on the FML, but this
morning we lost Maggie - a little one that was really special in a very
special way. Maggie was a senior citizen who was at least six or seven
years old when she came to us, making her about eight years old when
she passed this morning. She was a tiny dark sable female who was
completely blind when she arrived at FerretsFirst, with milky white
opaque cataracts in both eyes. Maggie loved people and tolerated other
ferrets. Being blind she couldn't understand what was happening when
they tried to play with her.
What made Maggie so special is that she was a member in good standing
of the "100 Percent Club". Membership in the 100 Percent Club is
reserved only for those ferrets who achieve and maintain a 100% success
rate of finding and using one of the many litter boxes that are
strategically placed throughout our bedroom. All new arrivals go
through a rigorous orientation and training where they learn where the
boxes are and of the expectation that they are to use the boxes every
time they have to go to the bathroom if they are out playing. If I hear
"splooting", I want to look up and see a ferret butt in a litter box,
and not hovering over my carpet 6" away from the litter box. This
training is reinforced with the use of N-Bones as a reward. Our ferrets
will do anything for an N-Bone. I even have one that will dive in 12"
of water to find a submerged toy if there's an N-Bone waiting for him
when he's done.
After this training just about all of our ferrets are able to make it
to the box at least 90% of the time or better, and most are members of
the exclusive 100 Percent Club. No matter what they are doing, they'll
stop, think, run to their favorite litter box, do their thing, then
come looking for the N-Bone reward.
Maggie was an especially skilled 100 Percenter. Being completely blind
I'm sure it was no easy task for her to make her way to the only box
she would use, but she did it every time, zig-zagging around until she
figured out where she was, the straight to the box, right up to the
end. Last night, when she was too weak to walk, she needed help getting
there, and that's when we knew that she was near the end. We tucked
her into her sleepy sack last night, thinking of the trip to the vet's
office today to give her a peaceful end.
Maggie normally liked to sleep alone, but sometime during the night
she made her way to the hammock where Moe, Caesar and Monnie were. She
snuggled in underneath of the pile and passed away. This morning they
were all covering her up, trying to keep her warm, but she was gone.
Maggie is featured on Page 20 of the 2008 Shelter Ferret Giving Tree
(http://www.mfran.org/2008/GiivingTree's/T20/maggie.htm ). Due to a
mixup by me, her picture is displayed with the description for Cleo
(http://www.mfran.org/2008/GiivingTree's/T20/cleo.htm). Take a look at
Cleo's page and you can see what a pretty lady Maggie was.
I'd like to send a special thanks to her Secret Santa who sent gifts
for her and Caesar. She did get a chance to use the gifts that were
sent, and we appreciate your caring and generosity so much. Caesar is
doing great. If you ever want updates on Caesar just email me at
[log in to unmask] .
Happy Holidays to everyone and their fuzzykids.
Jack Anderson
FerretsFirst Webmaster
http://www.ferretsfirst.org
a 501(c)(3) non-profit, no kill ferret rescue
[Posted in FML 6188]
|
