(this is from Susie Lee (with Wes Hurley) at the Ferret & Dove Sanctuary, and this is all about BabyDoll Babushka, the Gentlest silver mitt ferret. BabyDoll Babushka,was a silver mitt lady-ferret who was rescued by Wes, bought from a young man who had been keeping her in a small carrying-kennel in which she had no room to exercise. For her entire first five years of life, according to her former owner, that's all the room she had. When she was brought to our Sanctuary and home, and let out of her little carrier, her muscles were atrophied from disuse and she just wobbled and fell over. Never again would we put her into a small carrier. (for ferret-transports to and from the vets', for BabyDoll Babushka most certainly!, we would use a more spacious one-floor cage with all the living-amenities and a handle on it's top). We had, just a month before, gotten a gift of a very large, three"room" ranch-style (all on the floor) home-made ferret-den built from a large puppy-box, with a special blanket-sized-hammie in the center of the largest "living-room" part of this den which fastened with big plastic snaps and was capable of accommodating 9 ferrets with room to spare. On the bottoms were counter-top boards covered by kitchen tile linoleum, and this covered here-and-there with quilted place-mats (ferret-sized scatter rugs!). This no-need-to-climb, but extra-spacious super-den became BabyDoll's main New living den, still with daily excursions out into the Great Ferret Play-room with her new cage-mates. BabyDoll Babushka was an extra-gentle "beta"-type personality, which means she got along with everyone by allowing anyone else who cared to, to go ahead and be the "boss". Soon after her rescue, she was diagnosed as a diabetic hypoglycemic, and had been diet-controlled, with diazoxide from her vet)she made friends with Felicia Ferrette, and then Simone So-Lovely, too, and after two peaceful and happy years of freedom, with just the diet-controlled hypoglycemia, she had developed insulinomas (cancer of pancreas) and was being treated with vet-ordered medications and special feedings for this (including the extra enzymes to help her digest her food).. Dear little BabyDoll Babushka lost her fight with cancer on March 10th, 2003. She had just made it past 7 years of age, and her extra-gentle soul, seen here (on http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/ferret_rescuer/index.html ) in her first Christmas photo,(from 2001) has blessed our lives and lives on in our hearts with fondest remembrance. [Posted in FML issue 4084]