HI INTERNET!
Yep. I’m a sucker. She came home with me Tuesday.
What happened was this. Somebody dropped this ferret off at the local animal control HQ, absolutely starved. As in, she was all fluffy fur and sharp, poking-out bones. She’d been badly neglected, that was for sure, and if she was fed at all clearly it was either the wrong stuff or drastically not enough of it. She’s very, very young — eight months, still a baby with sharp baby teeth and downy baby fur and little baby claws.
Animal control called the ferret shelter, and our rescuers picked her up and proceeded to text me all weekend with pictures of her and plaintive notes about how thin and adorable and thin and sweet and thin and funny she was. I was already half thinking about it before I went in for my regular volunteer shift Tuesday, and then I sat down with her to give her a feeding. She wrapped all four of her legs around my wrist and would only let go to put her face in the food dish and suck down every morsel. I didn’t stand a chance.
Since she’s been home with us, she’s mostly eaten and slept. She doesn’t really seem to have a whole lot of an idea how to play; she’ll walk the perimeter of the room and then perch in a random spot and watch the others as they jump and chase. Riot grooms her and herds her a bit, and Claire is huffily ignoring her, offended beyond belief that there’s a new pretty girl at the dance.
Bucky? Well, Bucky tried the same trick he tried with Claire: He grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and started to haul her off to where he stashes his stuffed animals. Matilda let out the loudest shriek I’ve ever heard from a ferret, reared back and bit him on the head. He scurried away, thoroughly chastened.
A healthy respect for the ladies is now instilled in him.
A.