It was just a routine "stare at the fuzzies" run, honest! But I spotted this adorable, little skunk-faced, wanna-be blaze baby.. He was about 7 wks old and fit in the palm of my hand. It was a total impulse buy, and I'm not sorry for it!

Now, if you've been reading these bios in order, you will note that Gizmo came home roughly a week before Dook. And you will also remember that Gizmo was a birthday present for Geoff. The routine "stare at the fuzzies" run took place on Geoff's actual birthday....and somehow I came home with the Dookball. May I just take this opportunity to say: Thanks hon! :)

Since he was so little when he first came to live with us, he stayed in the small travel carrier and ate soft food until he was ready to take on the bigger guys. He earned his name by standing at the door of his cage (while the other kids were out) stomping his feet and dooking. It was like he was throwing a temper tantrum. Being the sucker that I am, I would always go pick him up and play with him.

Now that he is grown, he still lives up to his name and will run around dooking for no apparent reason. He's such a ham!

He frequently tries dooking while he is eating his treat, only it doesn't work. He gets so excited about having a treat that he starts dancing and dooking up a storm. As a result, he usually ends up throwing his treat across the room where it is quickly grabbed by others more serious about their treats. Don't worry, he does manage to get his fair share.

I think that because he was raised by hand, mainly by himself, he is one of the most affectionate ferrets that we have. He is always coming over sit on my lap for a couple of seconds and then will run off, only to be back in a few minutes. This may also be due to the fact that he is deaf and is more attentive to people in the room.

I haven't noticed many differences with him because he is deaf. He still plays, is very talkative and goes bonkers just like everyone else. He does, on occasion, wake up everyone at about 2 am and want to play. All the ferrets hiss and make a lot of other noise causing me to be a little grumpy if I can hear them. But otherwise, he's a very well behaved little guy.

During his seasonal coat changes he goes from having virtually no mask to having what looks like small black eyes. He's gone from being entirely dark brown to being silver speckled with patches of white. I won't be all that surprised to see him roan out to be a DEW after a few more coat changes. I really need to get some new pictures of him... But you can at least see what he used to look like :)

He's still just as goofy as ever. He loves to come snuggle with me if I'm on the futon. Only his version of snuggling is a little different than one might expect. He either must be just inside your shirt or messing with your hair. He doesn't like to sit still so he climbs all over you is a general nuisance. But hey, he's cute. What can I say? :)

His tummy hair seems to be thinning out some. Probably the first signs of adrenal disease, but I'm going to wait a little and keep an eye on him. He does funky things when he sheds his coat, so if that's what's going on, I'd rather not rush him off to the vet. If the hair loss progresses, he will go in for surgery. He isn't sleeping more, losing weight nor has he had a change in attitude - all things which I will keep monitoring.

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11/7/05 - goodnight my old friend. I will so miss looking at your sweet face each and every day. I will miss you helping me with my hair and with my daily chores. You were such a dear, dear little boy and we both loved you very much.