1995 —- July 15 2001
Ferret
Mom came home from a day of Christmas shopping with Dad
and told us that she knew what we should get Dad for Christmas.
They had gone into the local pet store where Dad had fallen in love
with a tiny black ferret- the little sweetie who would become
our beloved Inkie.
We had been talking about getting a companion for my brothers’
ferret Killa and this seemed like a perfect opportunity.
Mom Jen and I went to the pet store but were told that the ferrets
had been transferred to another pet store.
We were so disappointed but decided we would drive to the
other store just in case.
At the other store we looked through the hammock full of baby ferrets
and lo and behold there he was! We were so lucky that no one had
snatched him up already as he was the sweetest most even-tempered
ferret we had ever met.
We explained to the store owner that we wanted to purchase the little
guy as a Christmas present and didn’t want Dad to know about him
until Christmas morning. Someone came up with the idea that we leave
him at the store until Christmas Eve- which was only a couple of days away.
We were so excited when we went to pick him up on December 24.
When we got him home we put the darling boy as previously
arranged into our brother’s room and shut the door.
Mike says he hardly slept that night because he was busy playing
with Inkie (my Dad had named him when he fell for him).
The next morning we couldn’t wait to give Dad his extra-special present.
He sat in his chair and we told him to close his eyes and we went to
fetch the ferret. We put little Inkie on Dad’s lap and said
“open your eyes!”.
Dad was thrilled! He said it was the best Christmas present
he had ever gotten.
Well there were a few incidents over the years. From Inkie falling asleep
in some mysterious hiding place on his first day at home
(Christmas)- he was gone for hours!
To the struggle to get Killi to except him- which she did after a couple
of days of biting (by her) and protests (from him).
Eventually Inkie realized that he could just sit on Killi and stop the problem-
he was already bigger than our tiny Killi!
We still can’t believe that Inkie is gone. It was so soon and so sudden.
One day he was fine and the next he was having a soda bottle’s worth
of fluid drained from his abdomen. They didn’t know what was happening,
but we did know that he was not in pain.
We gave him duck soup (as long as he would take it) and
Ferretone (which he would take until the last) and
let him snuggle with Killi.
He finally just fell into a coma and passed quietly with most of his
family gathered around. It is good to know that he was certainly aware of
how much he was loved.
We will always love him and miss him.
We know that he is with all of our much-loved animals who went before.
He is playing with my darling Balthasar (his cousin or is it nephew?).
He is being watched over by our dogs Puffy and Tina
doted upon by our sweet little Squeeky and pounced on by
Tigger (now with two eyes!).
Yes he is being well taken care of.
We know that we will see him and all of them
again- at the rainbow bridge.
Wendy
| Inkie |