IN the summer/fall of 2003, our Vet told us that there were two ferrets up for Adoption from the Local Humane league and figured that, since we do ferret Rescue, we would be interested.  At first we were rather hesitant about adopting more ferrets, since it seemed like we just lost three right in a row, and we were feeling a little jaded.  But, after some thought, we decided to go check them out.  Once we arrived at the Humane league, we were ushered into the "get acquainted room".  Shortly we were joined by two little fuzz balls that just wanted to play and romp.  We also got their file and a note left by their previous owners.  Their names were Rascal and Scampi, and they were 2 years old, and 1 year old respectfully.  It turned out that they were well loved, but due to allergies, they had to get rid of them.  This set some of our fears to rest since we were afraid we were going to have to deal with mistreated Ferrets.  While in the room with the little guys, we learned quite a bit about them (since we were left there for almost 45 minutes)

 Right from the beginning, Scampi, who is a delicately large (almost 2 pounds) butterscotch ferret, was obviously the explorer, while she had no problem playing with us, she preferred the snoop around the room, and rearrange the toys.   The longer we were in the room the more distressed she seemed to become.  It took us a minute to realize she was hunting for a place to go to the bathroom.  Inspired, I asked the girls for a tray of litter to see if that helped, and sure enough, as soon as she saw the littler, she made a bee-line for it and did her business.  Needless to say this impressed us a bit.  After that, combined with Rascal's small stature there was no question about whether or not they would be coming home with us.

Once home, they instantly became friends with our other ferrets, and within an hour, they were all sleeping in the same hammock.

Scampi was quite an explorer, she came when she was called, she liked to tease Bear, she'd wrestle with Raven, and would not under any circumstances go to the bathroom outside of her cage.  In her free time, she stole ferret food, and Bear's toys or anything plushy and hid them under the couch.  While every other ferret loved getting treats while they're out, Scampi turned up her nose at everything we offered her except Linatone and lemonade.   She could be a little aloof at times but she's still quite an exceptional ferret.  Her, Tinkerbell and Rascal were very close and they were constantly playing or exploring together if you saw one, you'd see the others nearby. 

On April 28,2007, about 3 weeks after Tinkerbell passed away, I let her and Faust out to play and they were wrestling and playing as usual, and after a couple of hours, I had to put the back in there cage so i could go to a doctor's appointment I had.  Raven came home from work around 6:30pm and said she was eating and walking around the cage with Faust, I came home around 7:00, we had a quick dinner, and I was going to get the Ferrets out for their nightly one on one and I noticed Scampi wasn't moving.  In the span of an hour she was dead, with no warning what so ever.  The shock was enough to make me schitz out and to took some effort on Raven's part to calm me down.  In fact the next day I uprooted the entire living room and dinning room to see if he found something bad to eat or something (of which I found no signs what-so-ever).

So, on April 28, 2007 we interred our scampi, our Shrimpy next to her sisters, not 3 weeks after we lost Tinky.  Sometimes, especially times like this, it makes me wonder why I fall in love such small, delicate creatures. But then I remember the laughter as we played soccer with a  ping pong ball, or holding her while I gave her a bath and having her look up at me with complete trust because she knew I'd never hurt her, or the contentment and pride I felt when she'd learn a new trick or was so glossy and healthy.  So, ultimately I'd do it again. Even knowing the shock and sadness when she passed on, I'd never give up the joy and laughter that she brought into my life. 

Scampi Pictures

If you have any questions or comments