Raise a glass

4 years ago today my husband and I went out ferret shopping.  I'd been begging for a while to get some sweet little fuzzies and he'd finally given in at Christmas and told me we could get 2 of the sweetest, silliest creatures I've ever come across.  It's not that my husband doesn't like ferrets, in fact he had been a ferrets human being when we met and I got to know his little guy Nick and fell in love with ferrets instantly.  My husband and Nick had a good long time together but it is always too soon when we have to say goodbye to these sweet creatures who leave paw prints on our heart.
Well, it had been about 5 years since Nick had passed on and here Jeremy and I were out ferret shopping.  There is an amazing ferret shelter, Motor City Ferrets, about 30 minutes from us where we could have adopted from but we did not know this at the time and so we were at a pet store about 25 minutes in the other direction that someone had told us sold ferrets. When we got there there was just one little guy in the enclosure and he looked so sad and lonely.  He was sleeping curled up in the litter box and his food bowl was filled with liquid mush instead of the solid foods he should have been eating at 6 months of age.  He was small and malnourished and he was meant to come home with us that very same day.

My husband was wearing a down jacket with a chest pocket that  happened to be opened and when he picked up the little ferret he immediately crawled into Jeremy's coat pocket.  We looked at each other then and knew at that moment that we had a new family member.  <3  This pet shop was rather pathetic and even though they sold ferrets they didn't sell any enclosures for them so we bought him a couple of essentials and off we went with out new little guy riding home in my lap.

We discussed names on the way home and thought about calling him Vlad because he had this inverted white V on his head.  We settled on the name Chaos.  Over the last 4 years Chaos has accumulated quite the long list of nicknames!  We stopped on the way home at a different pet store to get Chaos a couple of other things, litter box, etc and when we got home we let him out to run around on our bed.  I am reading this now and wondering what in the world we were thinking but alas it had been a while since we were ferret owners and of course the first thing he did was back up by the head of our bed and go potty.  Here's the little stinker now!

Instead of being able to let him adjust to us and his new home with little stress we had to give him a bath his first day with us because he was so dirty from sleeping in his litter at the store.  Once he was all clean and dried from his bath he got to run around in his new room!  We ordered Chaos a deluxe ferret mansion online but until it was delivered he slept in his travel cage inside of a big red octopus for about a week before his new 4 story mansion arrived!

In February we brought home a teeny, tiny fuzzy ball of sass for him to play with.  We named her Kashmir.
Here is a pic of them meeting each other for the first time.

They did NOT get along at first!  He wouldn't let her into his mansion and they hissed at each other for nearly 2 straight months.  We had to get a separate enclosure for her in the beginning and Chaos would steal her water bottle off the side of her cage and drag it away so she wouldn't have any water.  Caught in the act here!

 Kashmir was quite the nippy little Jill when we brought her home and she would bite Chaos til we had to get a water bottle to spray and break them up!

They slowly got used to each other though and after a few months became friendly and grew to love each other and were inseparable, always snuggled together in their hammocks and in the last few weeks of Chaos's life I would find them every morning snuggled together inside of a little green fleece heart snuggly.
In August of 2008 we adopted a 3rd fuzzy named Dirk and brought him home to join our family.  Dirk was such a lovable lug of a ferret that he just lumbered right into the mansion and made himself at home.  Chaos and Kashmir loved him from the beginning (mommy and daddy did too).  Dirk was about 4 years old when he came home with us and he didn't have such a happy previous life.  Thankfully he fit right in with our little clan and he bounced and dooked and enjoyed MANY treats!  He was with us for a year and a half before passing away from insulimoma.  We all loved him so and he left a void in our hearts when he died.  

Two and a half weeks ago, in the early morning hours of December 11th Chaos passed away.  I still miss him terribly but I am so thankful to have had nearly 4 years of great memories with him.  He was just so SILLY and FEISTY and full of life right up til the day he died.  He was super sweet and gentle.  He never did learn how to play bite though and when he'd get really riled up I'd get some sharp teeth biting at my hands.  He loved it when I laid him on his back and gave him scratches behind his head.  He loved his toys too!  He could chew through a toy so fast!  I don't even know how many we went through over the years with him.  Some of his faves were Rikki Tikki the snake, a rattling ladybug and a reindeer that once upon a time squeaked but only had 2 legs when Chaos finished with it!

 He was so goofy, one day I found him eating with his snake right beside him!  It was like he'd been so busy attacking it that he'd forgotten he was hungry and brought it along for a snack!
With Chaos it was so easy to get him bouncing.  One of his favorite things in the world was when I put on this ratty old sweatshirt that we nicknamed Sweatshirt Monster and I'd pull my hands up in it and then pop them out and rough-house with him, he'd try to climb in the sleeves and get me back, often successfully!
Chaos was always good for a laugh.  He wasn't very graceful but he sure was loveable!  Some of the funniest memories I have were of him when he'd get super hyper and run off with a toy in his mouth and try to jump in the bottom drawer of the dresser that they used as a sleep spot and toy stash and he'd usually miss horribly to our loud laughter but he'd never give up.  Always kept trying til he got it!  When we lived in the apartment we would let him out of his bedroom and he'd just BOUNCE and DOOK down the hallway crazy and completely ferret-like.
Oh, Chaos, we miss you so.  Mommy, daddy, Kashmir and even miss Jasmine has been asking where you are.  You had a great life and you brought us so much happiness, we love you and you will always be in our hearts.  I picture you happy and bouncing across that Rainbow Bridge to join your buddy Dirk and daddy's first fuzzy Nick and the 3 of you playing and dooking happily together.  Tonight we raise a glass in your memory Chaos.