Muppet

As you may have already read elsewhere on our site, we also offer a Boarding service for other peoples ferrets. This is a pretty exclusive group, as we can only offer boarding to one group of ferrets at a time. Because of this, we have built up a collection of "Regular" ferrets that often come to us several times a year. Muppet, along with his cage mate "Spike" had come to us a couple of times, and were more than welcome guests.

Just before Christmas 2007, we received a message from Muppets owners that Spike had crossed the bridge, and could we look after just Muppet during their holiday in the New Year. They also explained that Muppet was pining for his friend, but as they were both allergic to the Ferrets they did not really want to get any more. Therefore they had made the very hard decision to try and find a home where Muppet could meet a new friend, and if we knew anyone, would we pass on their details.

We were we going away ourselves for Christmas and New Year, so could not offer to Board him, but as several of our Ferrets had crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 2007, we had been talking of getting a couple more, and here was one, that we already knew. We explained that we might be able to take him on, and as we were going away at Christmas, and this could be an ideal time to try and integrate Muppet into our group. This was especially good, as we would be staying in a rented cottage that the ferrets had not been to before, therefore removing the territory issues. So Just before Christmas, a couple of very tearful owners came and dropped Muppet off at his new home.

Unfortunately, our ferrets were very mean to him, and after trying everything we knew to get them living in harmony, we had to give up, and made the hard decision to have 2 groups of ferrets. During the introductions to ours, we had managed to get him to live with Rolo, who was terminally ill, so as he liked having someone to cuddle up with, and Rolo was grateful of the attention Muppet gave to him we moved them into a new separate cage, and as Muppet was so quiet, and Rolo struggled to move much, they enjoyed their lazy pampered life together. Unfortunately, at Easter, Rolo had one of his fits, and this time it was so severe, he passed away, again leaving Muppet alone, and despondent again.

In order to stop Muppet slipping back into his depression again, we rushed straight off to Mercia Ferret rescue, and let Muppet choose a new friend. The girl he chose also had a sister, so we bought home 2 little girls to be Muppets new friends.. The girls, Flake and Wispa, immediately settled in, and although Muppet would not play with them, he loved to curl up for a cuddle, and could usually be found in one of his favourite sleeping places with Flake, once she had worked of her excess energy chasing Wispa about.

Ever since we had Muppet, he was very sleepy, and hard work to get to take an interest in things. He would not play, and only showed a slight interest in new things, before going to find his bed again, but we did find, he liked to walk on his lead, and he loved methodically checking around the garden for slugs and snails, so we encouraged these by letting him into the garden, and taking him out for walks as often as we could

After spending a lovely May Bank holiday week at Tithing Barn in Pembrokeshire in the caravan, taking Muppet for long walks around the lagoons and along the beach front, practically every day, we returned home, and back to normal life. The first day back, Muppet was fine, and enjoyed checking everything was where it was supposed to be, after his time away. The next day, he got up as normal in the morning, but by the middle of the afternoon, we noticed that he seemed more lethargic than usual. As he has never been a bouncy ferret, and has always slept a lot, we put it down to the fact that it was such a hot day. We could not put our finger on what was not right, but decided to be “better safe than sorry” and called the Vets, booking him in for a morning appointment, as it was too late to get him there the same day. We continued to keep a very close eye on him, and as the evening progressed, he seemed to become week and shaky, and then not wanting to eat. Later still, he seemed to become very cold. We set up the small cage, fitted it with heat packs, and took him to bed with us, waking every couple of hours to check on him, and drip either water or “Duck Soup” into his mouth. By 3 am, he was not responding, and just wanted to sleep, so we placed him back into his heated sleep sack, and when we next check, he had peacefully passed away, still resting as we had left him earlier

Rest in Piece, Muppet, although we only had you for 6 months, you were such a sweet guy to have around. You managed to make us feel that you appreciated the things we did for you, and gave us some lovely cuddles in return. You really did manage to worm your way into our hearts, and we will miss you greatly

Identifying features:- Very friendly. Walks OK on lead. He sometimes gets carried away, and can bite harder than he should when playing. (Does not Bite normally)