Gizmo was our first ferret. She was found by my Dad, who works the graveyard shift at a local corp. yard. He said he originally thought she was some kind of rat (hey, what can we say, this is CA after all). He saw her come into the shop and curl up in a clothes locker. After donning some gloves, he picked her up. She was so cute and freindly and fell asleep again in his lap! He called my Mom and asked if he could bring a "furry" home. Mom, a sucker for these things, said yes...even though nobody knew what it was. Dad always got home just before we left for school, and I remember him backing into the drive way (we had a pickup with a camper shell) and seeing this adorable ferret peeking through the glass! I knew what it was only because Evening Magazine had a segment on them a few weeks before. Needless to say, she became our most beloved pet (much to the dismay of our cat, Patches). My Dad built her a three-story cage of 1/4" mesh...sleep on the top, play in the middle, potty & food on bottom. Since then, we know that this was not a perfect cage, but we WERE flying blind here. A trip to the vet confirmed it was a 2-3 year old ferret. However, that vet did not know about whether she was altered. We quickly figured out she was when she went into heat (actually we didn't know it was heat until her vulva started to swell and she started acting funny). The vet this time knew about ferrets and knew about ferrets dying without mating (something plastemia, isn't it?). Hormone shots took her out of heat and she was fixed...Gizmo's first brush with Death. BTW: we DID name her after the Gremlins character. Next came pneumonia. We never knew they caught human colds & such, and she managed to develop pneumonia. It could be we were unsure of the climate needs. Heck, we only figured out by trial & error that she liked dry cat food (we know know kitten chow is better) and we also fed her small amounts of red meat (another no-no...live and learn). Anyway, we spent weeks "steaming" Gizmo (so much for the bathroom paint). Our ignorance was not for lack of trying, but ferret info in CA is hard to come by. It took my Mom YEARS to get our current collection of we think is almost every mail-order book on the subject. Our ignorance finally killed her though (the vet was amazed she lasted the first two times...advanced heat and pneumonia, we are told, kill most ferrets). One day when leaving her cage, she tripped and hung herself by her foot. When examing for cuts, we noticed she was very skinny! We rushed her to the vet (my Mom was crying at this point, and I was scared to death) and they found a adrenal tumor. The vet recommended immediate surgery, but said we'd have to try an fatten her up first. We tried for a few weeks and made some progress before the vet said it was dangerous to wait any longer (it was a large tumor). He gave Gizmo a 50/50 chance. Gizmo survived surgery, but died painlessly at the vet in post-op from complications related to her poor health. We know she was someone's pet, because she was litter trained from day-one (no matter WHERE we put the pan), and REALLY enjoyed "shoulder sitting". She would also jump 1-2 feet from the top of her 3-story cage to my shoulder! She also played soccer. If you rolled a ping-pong ball, she would chase it down and and roll it back to us with her nose! If you lost a ferret in the San Jose, CA area (or know someone who did) and this sounds like your ferret, we are sorry you lost your friend. We had no way to let you know she was found. Gizmo, or whatever you call her, lived the best life we knew how to give her, was spoiled silly with attention, and was a loving companion to everyone in our family (even the cat played with her). To this person, let this be a joy to you--Gizmo got us "hooked on ferrets." She had a companion late in life (Melony) and died at approximately 6-7 years old and enjoyed every minute. Melony had never been alone and sulked for weeks at her loss....Sarah cheered her up though. To this person, thank you. Your Gizmo would have made a great "ferret abassador." I'd like to her from you if you're out there. Great, I'm crying again. Losing a family member like Gizmo and Daisy is hard, these darned ferrets are so easy to get attached to :( MH7 "In memory of Gizmo, our first." [Posted in FML issue 0735]