PART ONE

I grew up in the country, where all the local boys had ferrets. Sadly it was not a creature my parents were willing to let me keep as a pet, so the closest I got to one was being chased by one or two of those local boys with a ferret in each hand, usually albinos, threatening to put them down my trousers or up my skirt!! Then a number of years ago I came across an advert in the local free paper offering ferrets for sale. Along I went, unbeknown to my husband, to have a look. The chap worked his ferrets and this, he said, was his first litter. There were five Jills and two Hobs, all of which were Polecats. I was told it would be best to have a Hob and was handed a Pastel Polecat, which was six weeks old. After a lot of cuddles with all the kits I went home. That evening I spoke to Harry, my husband, about my little excursion and before long we had decided to go back that weekend to have a look together. In the meantime it was off to the library to find anything on ferrets, then off to all the local pet shops to look at cages. The weekend couldn’t come quickly enough. Finally the weekend arrived. Harry was just as taken with the little chap as I was and when he saw his brother it was actually his idea that we take them both home for company for each other. As we were putting them both in the box the smaller of the two hissed and spat at us, most upset with all upheaval. It didn’t take very long to realize that Reggie & Ronnie Kray, as I called them, were just meant to stay together.

Reggie Kray

Ronnie Kray

When we arrived home and put them in their new cage at the bottom of the garden it was only a matter of moments before we decided that they were just too cute to live outside in the cold and wet with the possibility of someone stealing them!! So by the end of that Saturday afternoon our third bedroom was cleared and the cage was moved upstairs. Over the next year we learnt an awful lot. We had no computer at the time and we didn’t know about any ferret rescues or clubs. The books that were available at the library were few and far between and not all that informative, but despite it all Reggie & Ronnie were thriving, healthy and happy.

Reggie Kray

Ronnie Kray

How can I explain what a difference these two little chaps made to my life? Shortly after they arrived my Dad passed away, there are no words to describe the shock and pain this caused, but throughout it all everyday my two boys helped me through it. I used to go into their bedroom, lie on their bean bags on the floor and let it all out. Reggie and Ronnie both knew there was something terribly wrong, they would lick away my tears and make me laugh, and then we would all fall asleep together on the floor the boys snuggled up against me. I don’t think I could have got through that time without them; the bond that formed between us was unbreakable. So here began the start of a new adventure, as my love for these little creatures grew so did my ferret family!!

PART TWO

Eleven months later a friend of mine, who was moving to Spain and couldn’t take her ferrets with her, asked if it would be possible for me to take them on. I was only too happy to help, but only on condition that Reggie & Ronnie were happy with them too. So began the introduction process, which I have to say went remarkably well. We spread it out over a couple of weeks, an hour’s playtime here and there, and then a full week. There were of course the usual disagreements but nothing major, we were all very pleased. So the day finally arrived when Ollie, a four year old Polecat Hob and Archie, an eighteen month old Silver Mitt Hob became part of our ferret family. It was also at this time that I met Patsy another ferret fanatic.

Ollie

Archie

About six months later modern technology entered our house in the form of a computer and this unfamiliar, scary piece of equipment opened more doors into the ferret world than I could have possibly imagined. I joined various ferret web sites, found loads of sites selling ferret goodies, discovered a wealth of information about the medical side of ferret welfare, met many new friends and discovered the joy of digital photography.

PART THREE

Eight months after Ollie & Archie joined us Harry and I went over to Patsy’s to meet all her ferrets. It was here that my love for Albinos really started. As I mentioned in the beginning of my story it was Albinos that I was chased with as a girl and to be honest I didn’t think much of them, with their scary pink eyes!! But during our visit it was Harry who changed my mind about them and I came away with something to think about. Shortly afterwards Patsy telephoned to say she had been to pick up an Albino from a chap who had given it to his son but he wasn’t looking after him well enough so could Patsy find him a new home? Why was she phoning me? “Just come and have a look at him” said Patsy “He is enormous, very friendly and about six months old”. So, after some discussion with Harry, off I went to bring him home and try him with my boys. When I walked into Patsy’s front room I couldn’t believe the size of him, he was huge. In fact he weighed in at around 2.8 kilos and looked just like a miniature polar bear! He had to finish off his quarantine period, which he did in my bedroom. This gave me a chance to get the other boys used to the smell of a newcomer in the house and, Mr.Bean (aka Beanie), as we called him, to get used to us!! The transition wasn’t as straight forward as with the last two new arrivals, but we got there in the end and our ferret family now made five.

Beanie (aka Mr. Bean)


PART FOUR

Three months after Beanie arrived we went up to Nottingham where I was going to finally get to meet a lady called, “Adrie Walker” who ran the South Nottingham Ferret Welfare. We met on line and for some months we had been in contact both on the net and on the phone. During this time Adrie and I had become firm friends and it was great to now get a chance to meet her and see first hand what a wonderful job she was doing with her rescue. We had discussed with Adrie, prior to our visit, about hopefully returning with a Sandy Hob kit. As it turned out we returned with four Hob kits, which is a good indication of how “Ferret Math” occurs!! The boys were all eight weeks old and from different litters. There was one Chocolate who we called, “Choccie”, one Silver who we called, “Bubbles”, one Dark Eyed (D/E) White who we called, “Boris” and last but not least a Sandy who we called, “Cookie”. Approximately five weeks after returning home from Nottingham, with our four new additions, we went away for a week and Patsy had our crew for their holiday! Upon our return there was a fifth member who had been surreptitiously mixed in with the latest group from Nottingham. A small dark Polecat who we called, “Samwise” (aka Sammy) he had settled in beautifully whilst we were away and who am I to argue with a ferret’s happiness? So let’s see where had “Ferret Math” got us now? Two groups of five, time to move ferret bedrooms me thinks!!


Boris

Choccie

Cookie

Bubbles

Samwise II (aka Sammy)


PART FIVE

On December 5th 2003 Adrie Walker died. All her ferrets, both rescue and personal, were rehomed by her husband, Philip, and daughter, Mae. We were asked by Mae if we would like to take two, of course we didn’t hesitate. So on Christmas Eve we travelled to Nottingham for Adrie’s funeral and return with Toby and Rupert.



Toby was a large Polecat who had been found by the RSPCA shut in a wardrobe without any food or water. When they opened the wardrobe door he screamed at them, he was very frightened. Adrie took him in and worked miracles with him, by the time he came to us the only thing left to work on was the fact that he didn’t like having the top of his head or his back touched, and although he didn’t actually bite you when you touched him, you had to approach him very carefully. Rupert was a Polecat Mitt and was and still is one of the most laid back ferrets you could imagine. He also had come to Adrie’s through the RSPCA. So here was the start of our third group!! It wasn’t long before Toby had completely forgotten about not liking being touched on his head or back. He became a very playful exuberant ferret who loved a fuss being made of him. Rupert in the meantime had gone from being a Polecat Mitt to a Silver Mitt; I had never seen such an enormous change in a ferret’s colour before, even during the moulting period. They made a remarkable pair.



Toby’s exuberant behaviour was rather overwhelming for poor Rupert, who is so laid back he is permanently horizontal!! So we decided as soon as a suitable candidate turned up at Patsy’s we would add a playmate to the group, if for no other reason than to give Rupert some peace!! In July 2004 along came Basil, an eight week old Albino Hob, who even Toby was pretty gob smacked by!! But thankfully the three of them settled down very well together. Toby was happy to have a friend who leapt on him as much as he did on them and Rupert, bless him, was just happy to be a spectator.

Basil

Toby, Rupert & Basil

PART SIX

In late September 2004 we went up to Cambridge and collected 27 ferrets for rehoming. Amongst these 27 was a small very thin Sandy Jill who we were concerned about from the start (If you hadn’t already spotted it all of my ferrets to date were hobs, I had previously not been that keen on Jills!!) and it wasn’t long before our heart strings were very firmly pulled by this little creature. So much so that one morning when I came downstairs Harry was chattering away to “Lulu”, as he had decided to call her, and so began the next part of our ferret journey and the start of group number four!!



Lulu

It wasn’t until we started asking questions about Lulu that we learnt that she was about two and a half years old, had had kits six months earlier and two of her daughters were amongst the Cambridge rescues. But by this time all of the Jills from the Cambridge trip had been rehomed, so Lulu and her daughters were parted forever, which made me quite sad. We certainly didn’t want Lulu to be by herself, so once again I turned to Patsy to try and find her a suitable companion. It wasn’t long before Patsy appeared with an eight week old Albino Jill, who we called “Phoebe” and what a little trouble maker she turned out to be!!



Phoebe

In October Patsy asked me to pick up a Jill from a chap who had rehomed her, as the Hob she was living with wouldn’t accept her. I didn’t think I would ever see a petrified ferret, “petrified” as in the Harry Potter movies, but believe me she was. Rigid as a rock with a large abscess on the side of her neck caused by a bite from the Hob and lying in the litter tray was a small but very pretty Polecat. I think as soon as I saw her I knew she would be staying with us, but for how long as she appeared to have given up on life. We started her on a course of antibiotics and made sure she was comfortable in the meantime we decided to call her “Miss Hope” in the hope that she would recover and recover she did much to our delight.


Miss Hope

A few days later I heard from Patsy who had rescued a very small Albino Jill who had bite marks on her face and a swollen back leg. Naturally she ended up at ours and upon further investigation we discovered her back leg had been broken but had already started resetting itself. Harry said she was a bit of a peg leg, so we called her Peggy-Sue and despite her size she will see any of my big Hobs off at a glance, but also loves cuddles and kisses. Of course the other three girls took to her as well and thus became group number four.

PART SEVEN

I had done my usual Friday thing of checking the free paper to see if there were any ferrets being offered “Free to a good home” then phoning to volunteer to find them good homes with home checks. This particular Friday I arranged for a seven and a half year old Sandy Jill, Morag, and her two eight month old companions to be brought over to me. When they arrived it was obvious that the two youngsters needed to be separated from the “old girl” so they went to a friend to be fostered and in no time were found a good home.


Morag in the meantime went to the vet for an OAP check up where we found she had a VERY bad case of ear mites and two lumps in her tummy. It took us three months to clear her ear mites, the vet said he thought she had probably had them since she was a kit. As for the lumps in her tummy we hope they are just fatty cysts and unless anything major occurs they will be left.



As I am sure you can imagine after all this time she had already become part of the “family” even though she had lived downstairs due to her ear mites. However this little Jill had a very special place in my husband’s heart and is his ferret. Whilst having a discussion about her future he said “I have never had a ferret of my own and no one will upset my Morag”. So Morag is still living in the lounge and this is where she will stay. We have decided that if by chance another small older Jill needs a home we will give Morag the opportunity to see if she would like a companion, if not we will do our very best to make the latter part of her life as enjoyable as possible. After all she is the Boss's ferret!!




PART EIGHT

Shortly after Morag arrived along came “Angel”. She was brought to us by a member living in Hurstpierpoint who, whilst searching for their own lost ferret, had come across this little Jill wandering the streets. She was thought to be around seven or eight years old and it was obvious from the start that she wasn’t well as her stomach was very enlarged and blue, particularly around the nipples. Straight off to the vets we went where they diagnosed lymphatic cancer, with fluid in the belly. She was still very perky so it was decided to give her steroids, containing a painkiller, along with some diuretics. The vet told us she only had about six weeks left in her, how wrong could he have been!



We took her home and vowed to make the time she had left the most comfortable and happy we possibly could. She lived in our kitchen, loved her playtimes in the garden and particularly enjoyed a bit of steak! We continued her medication and on the regular trips to the vet he was astounded she was doing so well. Sadly the time came, as we knew it would, when the next trip to the vets was not for a check up or more meds but to allow her to cross the Rainbow Bridge peacefully and without pain. This was ten months after the vet had said she only had six weeks to live, what a little fighter she was. Now Angel truly has wings. God bless, little one.


PART NINE

Within a matter of days three new members of our ferret family arrived. Firstly there was “Maisy” an eight week old Sandy Jill. Next to arrive was “Daisy-Mae”, a very small seven week old Albino Jill, terrified but still full of hiss and spit despite her size!! Then last, but not least, was an old friend. A huge Polecat Mitt that we had rescued and rehomed last year, sadly his owners didn’t want him anymore as they were going off travelling, thankfully though they returned him to us. So Yogi was back.

Maisy

Daisy-Mae

Yogi

The next task, with fingers firmly crossed, was to see if Lulu, Phoebe, Hope and Peggy-Sue accepted the three of them. The larger cage was all ready, brand new with no one else’s scent in it, so in they all went and much to our amazement they were fine. We had never had a new integration go so smoothly, it was astonishing and obviously just meant to be.


PART TEN

Well 2005 was certainly the year for new arrivals. It doesn’t make it easy when you are fostering as you can’t help but fall in love and the longer they are with you the more difficult it is to part with them! So let’s see who came next……… Ah! Yes, it was “Heidi”. She came to us for fostering with her sisters and it wasn’t long before Harry, my husband, made it clear that he had a soft spot for her. I have to add that she is by far the gentlest kit I have ever come across and very affectionate with it! Within days of Harry making his feelings known Patsy phoned to let me know that there were some more rescues on their way and amongst them was a Silver Jill. Patsy knew I had wanted a Silver Jill so she knew there was a home waiting for her with us. So along came “Tinkerbell” with her overshot jaw, which makes her look a bit fierce, and a love of my ear lobes!! We were very pleased that she and Heidi got on famously, but saddened that when it came to trying to integrate them into Lulu’s group Tinkerbell was not accepted by either Lulu or Phoebe hence came the start of group number five!!

Tinkerbell & Heidi

Sadly in the meantime Archie the Silver Mitt Hob living with Ronnie, Reggie, Ollie & Beanie developed a cough. After 48 hours we decided to get him onto a course of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. The cough started on the Wednesday and we started the medication on the Saturday morning. By the Monday morning we were convinced it was something far worse as the medication had made no difference to his condition. So we took him off to the vet thinking, after some research, that he may be suffering from cardiomiopathy and asked the vet to do an x-ray. The vet phoned us whilst Archie was still under the anaesthetic to let us know that he had stomach cancer which had progressed up to the lungs, hence the cough, and was now starting to block the airways. Archie had shown no signs of any illness, until the cough started; he had been eating, drinking and playing with his friends. There was nothing anyone could do, so we let him continue his sleep and beyond to the Rainbow Bridge. God bless, little one.



There were still a number of foster ferrets coming in and slowly finding new homes. During this time a young woman brought a ferret to me for rehoming who she had only had for a short time, but her boyfriend said it kept biting him and it had to go. She had called her “Coco” who was an overweight Sandy Jill who didn’t have a bite in her!! As always we wanted her to have a friend so Patsy brought over an Albino Hob from foster Dad Steve to pair up with her. As the Jill was called Coco Patsy called the Hob “Kellogg” so she became known as “Coco-Pops”! After a few days of hissing at him and wiggling her fat bottom they seemed to have bonded rather well and became an instance hit with yours truly, so it wasn’t long before poor Harry started getting hints that we should try them with Heidi and Tinkerbell!!

Coco Pops

Kellogg

So group five expanded from two to four.


PART ELEVEN

Towards the end of 2005 Rose Morris put up on the Mercia board that she had two four year old Jills looking for a new home. Their Mum had been rescued, already pregnant, by Rose and they had been born at Mercia. They were rehomed to a lovely family who were now emigrating to Australia and were unable to take them with them. They sounded lovely, so without further ado I phoned Rose and asked if she would allow me to rehome them. A reserve was put on them straight away. So on December 11th Tink & Rolo returned with us from the Mercia Christmas Show.



We had a couple of choices as to which group to put them with but it was my greatest wish that they be accepted by Toby, Rupert and Basil. Now I have to tell you that Rupert would accept any ferret he is soooooooo laid back he will love anything, a bit of a tart really!! BUT Toby and Basil are a different kettle of fish altogether. I had tried four other ferrets individually with this group over an eighteen month period and not one has been accepted. Toby in particular attacks from the off and Basil just follows his mentor, so I was under no illusion that it would be an easy process. The girls unfortunately had to be quarantined for a fortnight as they had ear mites and they needed clearing up first, so for the first two weeks they lived in my bedroom. As soon as they were given the all clear it was time to take the bull by the horns and see how they all got on. Well after a couple of initial pushes and shoves, no fighting, but a lot of screaming on Tinks part all settled down remarkably well. Toby decided it was Tink that he was going to try it on with but instead of trying to fight with her he just kept reversing into her, pushing her out of the way. But give her her due, Tink was having none of it and would stand her ground giving Toby and Basil “the look” then jab her nose at them. If the worst came to the worst she would even climb on Toby’s back and bite his neck which he was a bit gob smacked with to say the least but it was highly amusing to watch!! So after a good playtime session they all got put back into their new fresh cage and just settled down. What a result, I was well pleased.




PART TWELVE

Bubbles, our Silver Mitt Hob, had been fighting cancer now for over two years. He had had two growths removed and had survived both, what a fighter he was. On this particular morning when I went in to clean the family out I knew the moment I got him out of his cage that something was wrong. Initially I thought he had had a stroke so I rushed him straight down to the vets, but upon further investigation it became apparent that not only had he had a stroke but there was also a large mass in his stomach. The cancer had finally won. So on the morning of January 10th 2006 Bubbles crossed the Rainbow Bridge free to enjoy a new life without pain or suffering. Godbless little man.



The start to 2006 was possibly the worst in memory. Two days after losing Bubbles we took Tink, Heidi and Coco to be spayed. After the operation it became apparent that there was something wrong with Heidi and by the following morning we thought we had lost her. We rushed her to the vets who put her in intensive care on a drip etc. where she spent the day. That evening we thought there was a tiny glimmer of light and she was turning the corner. Our vet took her home with him so he would be able to continue monitoring her closely. Much to our dismay our young girl didn’t make it she passed away on the vet's lap that evening. The post mortem showed that her liver was under developed and she was unable to clot her blood. Regardless of being spayed she would not have survived to adult hood. We were heartbroken. Godbless, little one.



In March the mass growing in Ollie’s tummy finally started affecting his breathing and had obviously started spreading to his chest. The time had come to let another one of our babies cross over the Rainbow Bridge. Godbless, darling Ollie.


PART FOURTEEN

Towards the end of January I received a phone call from a lady whose marriage had ended and her husband had left her with all the animals to rehome. Amongst them was a solitary one year old Albino Hob called “Pippin” and she wanted to know if I would be able to take him for her. So on Saturday 28th January Pippin arrived. In the meantime, although it was only a few weeks since we lost Heidi, Harry decided that the little Albino Jill, who came to us as a rescue after being found calmly walking down Worthing sea front, he had called “Crackle” was going to be the next addition to our ferret family. So she was duly brought up to the house and introduced to Kellogg, Tinkerbell and Coco Pops. Crackle was a bit overwhelmed by their exuberance, as she is a quite little thing, but they all seemed to get on so the youngest group of three once again became four.


So let’s see what did happen to Pippin. Well I am sure if you have read this far you will no doubt find it very easy to guess exactly what happened to him and I am sure you’d be right. Pippin within a matter of days moved from “The Ferret Sanctuary”, our rescue area, up to the house and firmly ensconced himself without as much as a by your leave into our lives. We are still hopeful that one day he will become friends with another ferret but in the meantime he has free range of the whole house and garden twice a day and the rest of the time lives in his cage in front of the lounge window next to Kellogg, Tinkerbell, Coco Pops and Crackle.


So let’s see just how far “Ferret Math” has got us over the years. Having started with Ronnie & Reggie Kray we now have a ferret playroom, which was our second largest bedroom and is now totally dedicated to the ferrets, in which there are four Superpet Ferret Kingdom cages in which there are currently a total of nineteen ferrets. Then in the lounge there is Harry’s old girl, Morag. The youngest group Kellogg, Tinkerbell, Coco Pops and Crackle and last but by no means least Pippin lovingly known as Pip or Pipsqueak. So our ferret family has expanded from two to twenty-five. All I will add is who knows what the future may hold just watch this space……………………..!!


PART FIFTEEN

Morag has recently celebrated her honorary ninth birthday, which at times we wondered if she would get to. Not only does she have two growths in her lower abdomen but she also has a heart murmur, a cataract on her right eye and has now lost all her hair bar her whiskers. She is currently being prescribed Prednisolone and Furosemide. Despite all this and the fact that she sleeps 23 hours a day, when she is on the go she is a little speedy Gonzalez!! At the vets they call her “Gollum” and as you can see from the photo below there is some resemblance!! The main thing is she is still happy, loves her running about time, her treats and eats more than a lot of our other ferrets. All in all she is a little gem and we love her to bits.



PART SIXTEEN

I had just returned home and was on the phone when I heard an unusual sound in the other room, I went in and found our beloved Morag having a heart attack. I lifted her gently from the cage and cradled her in my arms she then had what I thought was a fit, in fact it was a stroke. I snuggled her in my shirt and held her near my face whispering to her, telling her how much Harry and I loved her. She rested her nose on mine and rubbed her face against me. I prayed she would be taken there and then but she was determined to put up a fight so I had no alternative but to phone the vet to let them know I was on my way.

The vet confirmed that Morag had had a heart attack and a stroke. He listened to her heart and said she was in heart failure, he then took her temperature and said that there was no reading at all and that her body was shutting down. With some gentle help from the vet Morag crossed the Bridge laying in my arms whilst I told her once again how much we loved her and that she was going to travel to a beautiful place where her coat would return and she would be pain free and happy. She gasped her final breath as I kissed her goodbye.

Sleep well Daddy's girl. We love you very much and you will always be in our thoughts. Godbless and Godspeed little one.


 



 



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