Kit was a 5 year old silver ferret and had some really nice and clear markings.  His face was white, with little silver marks under each eye, his feet, stomach and hind-end was a pearly white, and his shoulders, sides, and back was a dark silver, making him look like he was wearing a dark jacket. We adopted him from a friend of Raven's.  His kid didn't have a lot of time to play with him, so he decided to give him to a better home. When he heard that we had ferrets, he asked if we'd take him.  Naturally we agreed, and Kit came to live with us.  The other ferrets seemed to like him a lot, and Tinky really took a liking to him.  Even Sugar (who normally didn't like new comers) took to snuggling, and playing with him.  Kit was an absolute doll.  He was sleeping and playing with the others in a matter of hours.  Which was remarkable considering he was an only ferret for 4 years. He loved to give kisses and chew on my toes.  But you could tell he wasn't  quite used to our style of playtime, where we just let 'em have the run of the house, for a couple hours a day.  He'd spend most of the time following Tinky, or Merlin, and the two of them would show him the ropes, and give him pointers on what to get into.   He didn't mind the dogs too much, but sometimes bear could get a little overwhelming and he'd run and hide.

    Not long after he came here, we noticed he was losing weight at an alarming rate. And I noticed he wasn't eating at all!   I tried to get him to eat some duck soup, but he turned up his nose at it, and I really didn't want to force feed him, as he was so very frail at this point, I was afraid of hurting him.   I was at a total loss.  I could tell he was depressed, but nothing I did could bring him around.  He'd hide whenever we let the ferrets out, and he got very listless.  I finally got desperate, and offered him some of the cat's food.  And man did he devour it!  He ate until I was scared his little belly would pop! He wouldn't eat while in the cage, I think he felt threatened by the others, at least when it came to food.  So, twice a day, I'd get him out and feed him on the coffee table.  He gained weight rapidly, though he was never what I would call an ideal weight, at his heaviest, he was about 1.6 pounds. After I started feeding him, He became playful, and a vet check-up turned up nothing bad, other than the slight weight, which the vet gave me some stuff to give that helped him put a little more weight on, and gave him a little bit of an energy boost. All was well for 4 or 5 months.

    Unfortunately, Kit started loosing weight again. And he didn't have any weight to spare in the first place!  I first noticed it around 10:30 at night during a late night play-time.  He lost 30% of his weight in what seemed like a single day, by the time I could do anything (IE get him to a vet) He was extremely listless, wouldn't eat, drink or any thing.  Once again the diagnosis was heart rending, Apparently, his pancreas, and liver failed. Sadly, because of his slight weight (under 1 pound), his unknown history, and his age, there was nothing we could do for him.  For the second time this year, we were forced to say good-bye to a dear, furry, loved one

a ritual dubbed "linatone belly" the only sure fire way to get a ferret's nails clipped

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