Hola, Out of the 13 ferrets I have been owned by since the 1998 there are 4 that just totaly stood out and grabbed my heart so hard it will never be the same. Please dont misunderstand, I have loved and still love each and every one of my little darlings but these 4....................... The first was Jubilee. She was my very first ferret. She was a tiny black sable who fit neatly into the center of my palm where she made a little heart shape. Poor little thing was completely overprotected for about 3 or 4 months. I was scared to let her off her lead. She was so tiny she could get anywhere. There was no such thing as ferret proofing for her. She slept in a little wicker wall pocket that I put soft material in and hung from the side of her cage. Kind of like a little nest. I did not know much about ferrets when I got her and I did many things wrong. My fav memories of her are the two of us eating fudge at Christmas and eating oatmeal in the morning. Jubilee also loved to walk the neighborhood on a lead and when she grew tired of walking, rode my shoulder. Jubilee taught me how smart and clever ferrets are. She taught me how trickey and sneaky they are and how completely they steal your heart. Jubilee was the reason for all the others. I was trying to pay her back for what she gave me. I once had a shelter mom tell me that she had never seen a ferret more bonded with her human nor a human more bonded with a ferret. Then there was little RinkyDink. I rescued her from a pet store. She was starving and bit the mess out of me when I picked her up. She was a champagne siamese and turned out to be the most loving, gentle ferret. Because of her rough start RinkyDink faced many health challenges. She was finaly diagnosed with EGE, a severe form of IBD and I was able to give her another couple of years thru treatment. Before diagnosis there was a time when I had to feed RinkyDink every 4 hours round the clock for months. This was scruff and stuff, she did not eat willingly. Most of RinkyDink's story is on the ferret health list. I also compiled her file and sent it off to try to get the age of sale law changed in Maryland. RinkyDink died at just 4 years old. She died on a holiday weekend with no vet able to release her. She died in my arms in the very early hours of the morning. Next were Blaze and Noble. They came in as a pair in a tiny cage. They were named Turd and Prince. The elder was Turd and the handsome young blaze was Prince. I was not havin it and both got new names. Turd became Nobleman and Prince became Blaze. I will start with Nobleman. He was elderly. He smelled elderly. He was balding. He had ferret asthma, cardio, adrenal and insulinoma. For the longest time he slept and ate and that was all. I had many debates with myself about his "quality" of life. He always convinced me his quality was good enought for him by the eagerness his tounge met the bowl. He loved, loved , loved his gravy and his tounge would start flickering in mid air way before it ever got close to the gravy. He was not in good enough health for surgery. He got fatter and fatter. Finaly after months and months of rehab and adjusting med, Nobleman became a ferret again. Nobleman kind of danced, he waddled very fast and his most fav thing to do was to go out front and climb the pine tree. He loved to climb that pine tree. Nobleman escaped one day while in my husbands care. He did not survive. My only comfort is knowing that he went quickly on a grand adventure and he had a chance to be a ferret again. Last was Blaze. He was a stunning blaze (big surprise there lol). He was tiny for a male and never got any larger than a med sized female. But oh was he mean. Only to other ferrets but he was mean mean mean to them. I could not let him play with them as he would try to kill them. He was quick and viscious and went straight for the throat. I would take him to the bathroom to stay while the others played and he would turn himself around and kiss me all over my face on the way. He was the gentlest ferret with humans. If you did not know ferrets had claws, you would not find out thru Blaze. He would never let you feel his claws on your skin. Blaze was pure mischeif. He was every where he was not supposed to be quicker than he was supposed to be there. He could get places no ferret was supposed to be able to reach. I finaly did find Blaze a companion, even two. Turns out he was really good at taking care of kits when they came in. He raised Navidad and Bonkers. Two days before Blaze when in for his second adrenal surgery and to explore a lump he was dancing on a chair, all by himself, in a shaft of sunlight. I wll never forget that moment. It is written on my heart. During the surgery, one of Blaze's kidneys were removed as it had hardened and biopsies were taken of his lymph nodes. Blaze never really recovered from his surgery. We just got him stablized with the Addisons and then the cancer took him. Ragged little mitts, master of dancing fits. I miss them all. -- HappyTails, Karen [Posted in FML issue 5099]