Saturday two weeks ago we ventured down to Rocky's to pick up our designated group from the DMK rescue. One of the ferrets that Barb handed me was an albino boy. I knew he was an albino because of his pink eyes, not because of the color of his coat. As he briefly passed from my hands to the carrier I could feel the tension in his little body. When we had taken a head count and made sure all the carriers were secured with water bottles in place, we made the trek home with a car full of scarred and weary travelers. At home we had a better chance to look over these little ones before putting them in their new cages. We could tell that all of them had had enough and just needed to be left alone to settle into their new surroundings. Before putting Albie in his cage he decided to latch onto me; my finger to be exact,with his teeth. I knew right then and there Albie was staying with us. (I love challenges). The next day I went into the quarantine room to do the usual ferret chores and noticed that Albie was sleeping in his litterbox and doing his business in another corner of the cage. Nothing really unusual as I have had ferrets do that for years. But I remembered the living quarters these guys were accustomed to, and I realized that that was Albie's comfort zone. All he had ever known was that small shoebox of a space. When I would talk to him he stayed in the litterbox in the back of the cage and looked at me with fear in is eyes. In all my years of dealing with rescue ferrets I have never seen that look. It was so sad. So to try to make him more comfortable with his new surroundings and me, I put another littlerbox with a blanket in it, in his cage. That became Albie's new comfort zone. First day out in the playpen he cowered in the corner afraid of the toys. I also realized that he was very frightened when I would go to pick him up to move him from cage to playpen and vise versa. These poor babies don't understand a loving human touch. Albie's second day out to play he adopted a toy. A little bear which sleeps with him in his comfy litterbox bed. Each day I see Albie gaining more trust with me. He has not tried to attach himself to me in a negative way since that first day, and now when I come into the room I am thrilled to find him at the front of his cage waiting for attention from me. He lets me cuddle him, and I can see the look of fear in his eyes is going away. Today was extra special, because today for the very first time he gave me a kiss! And yes I cried. As with all shelter ferret's there is nothing more satisfying than to see "ferrets be ferret's, but somehow the visual pictures of the "before's" of these ferrets, makes these little guys somehow more special. Denise Furry O's Ferrets [Posted in FML 5765]