My husband and I took a long, meandering trip down the Oregon coast
to a small town on this side of the California border. The OR coastal
ride is reputed to be one of the most beautiful in the world....sheer
dropoffs to the ocean, huge waves, giant rocks jutting up from the sea,
elk crossings, wildflowers and waterfalls. We went past quaint little
beach cottages and monsterous multi-million dollar homes, past the
Rogue River where fishermen try for salmon and many celebrities have
vacation homes and on down to what is known as the "banana- belt"
where jackets come off and air conditioners come on. We went to see
Hiroshima. We got lost but finally arrived at a small house with a
teenage boy waiting outside. I shook his hand and introduced myself.
He went into the house and brought out Hiroshima....a gorgeous pale
cinnamon (maybe champagne) enormous ferret with white knees...and
pushed him into my arms. He weighed a ton! The boy's mother arrived on
the scene to see who her son had GIVEN his ferret to instead of selling
it. Hiroshima snuggled into my arms....a very young, overweight,
unwanted Christmas/birthday gift? The boy said he was too busy to give
him proper care. Some of my rescued ferets come with food, toys,
blankets or cages. Hiroshima came with nothing except rolls of fat. I
didn't think he had come out of his cage in quite a while. I placed
him into a carrier and he went to the hammock, pushed his way under a
blanket and fell asleep, obviously not stressing over his departure.
I thanked the young man and left.

We stopped at McDonalds for a quick bite...a treat for us because we
live in an even smaller OR town with no McD's. Hiroshima continued his
nap and during the 1.5 hour ride home I kept checking on him to make
sure he was SND (sleeping not dead) but he rarely stirred, all comfy
in his little nest. I did see him sniff with disdain at the food I
brought. I later called the teenager and found out what Hiroshima liked
to eat THEN made another trip UP the coast to a pet shop (ICK) to buy
a small box of his favorite food (not mine) to mix into the 3 types of
kibble that I feed and gradually wean him off the stuff with corn in
it (another ICK).

I rarely change a rescued ferret's name.... BUT.......HIROSHIMA? How
about Hiro? My daughter Mary solved the problem by naming him Hero. He
is the sweetest, FATTEST ferret in all the world, no bites not even
toes, lots of kisses and friendly to other ferrets.

Two days later we lost our 9 yr old Brewster to advanced insulinoma. He
had been a terrible abuse case brought to me years ago by Chris and
Dave at the OR Ferret Shelter. By the time I got him, Dave had made him
forget his former life and become the sweetest ferret ever. It broke my
heart when Brewster left for the Bridge.

Hero is helping my heart heal.

Nancy and her 15, missing sweet
Brewster, welcoming sweet Hero

[Posted in FML 6690]