Rolo

Rolo was at the RSPCA the same time as we picked up Crunchie and Malteaser, but had been left to starve by his previous owners. His cage mates had died, and he was dangerously close to it himself. The RSPCA had to keep him for a while, as they were prosecuting his previous owners for cruelty. We decided that he was so cute, and had had such a bad start, that it would be nice for him to come and live where he would enjoy life, so after a couple of weeks, he came to live out the remainder of his life with us

His first task upon arriving at our house, was to make up for being starved. He steadily put on weight, continuing past his ideal, to actually very over weight. Unfortunately his bad start affected him quite badly. He seemed to be slightly backwards, was deaf, or very heard of hearing, we never worked out which, and did not have the full function of his rear end. Some days he was OK for a while, but most days, he just used his front legs, and dragged the rear ones along the floor.

These things did not stop him from having short active bursts of fun, and a bit like a clock work toy, if you picked him up for a couple of minutes, fussed him, then put him back on the floor, he would shoot round the room as fast as he could, especially as he only used his front legs, and then come back for another go.

As time went on, he started suffering from fits, and at one point we thought he was dead, only to have him suddenly sit up as if nothing had happened, when he smelt ham. He started having problems eating and keeping the normal ferrets food down, and we fed him twice a day with “Duck Soup”, which we spent several hours every couple of weeks producing and freezing into Ice trays.

We finally learnt he also had insulinomia, which put him on steroids for the remainder of his life. In true Rolo style, he loved the attention the giving of the medication gave to him, waiting at the bars in the morning for his Duck Soup, and waiting for us to find him from one of his many sleeping places to give him his medication, some more soup, and put him into his hammock to bed. He carried on with the fits, and each one seemed slightly worse than the one before. They were heart breaking to watch, knowing all we could do, was wait for him to come out the other side, and be there to keep him comfortable.

We were going away for Easter, and as usual we were taking the Ferrets with us, but unfortunately Rolo was having another one of his fits. This time he did not come out the other side, and finally passed away.

He will be missed, and even though he had a very bad start in life, he was a very friendly character, who never bit, or did anything nasty to anyone, enjoying being a good PR ferret when ever people wanted a cuddle.

Identifying features:- Large and Very Fat. Very friendly. Waddles on lead, but not far. (Does not Bite)