Since Geoff had decided he really liked ferrets, I bought Gizmo for him for his birthday. About a week before his birthday, I gave him the money and told him to go pick out a cute one. He came home later that day with an adorable black sable fuzz.

Even though this was Geoff's ferret, somehow I got to name him. Geoff seems to remember that event differently, but I still think he's confused :) Anyhow, I've always liked the name "Gizmo" and thought it would be a perfect name for a ferret. It's been modified somewhat over the years, like most of our ferrets' names. For some reason I call Giz "The Worm" or "Gizzy-Worm". The reason? Because he wiggles and dooks and dances and well, he's just a big fuzzy worm. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

Just after we picked up the j-feeders and brought them home, the boys figured out a great way to eat! Climb in the top of the j-feeder (leaving your fuzzy butt out, of course) and eat from the top. We just about died laughing but did manage to get a few pictures of the boys (Gizmo and Ozzy) eating this way.

Giz seems to love the toys that we bring home. We brought home a little squeaky ball some time ago and he just went nuts. He immediately hid it and would drag it out from time to time. The squeaking mechanism eventually broke in his first ball, so we purchased him another large squeaking ball. I have never heard more hissing over a silly ball before. He would put it away and we, being the mean humans that we are, would get it out and squeak it again. It got stuck between the wall and the bed at one point and he stood below pulling and the other ferrets stood above pushing but they just couldn't get it to move.. So I helped :)

After toys, shoes are next on the hit list. He loves to play in them and drag them around (regardless of whether I'm wearing them or not!). So if I take my shoes off, I have to make sure to put them up so he can't climb in them. And even when they're "up" and "out of the way" they aren't always safe. Giz has a knack for clearing obscenely large distances and has proven more than once just how far he can jump!

We discovered that Gizmo's favorite treat is fruit loops. He will stand up and beg for them and then come back for more. I think he likes his fruit loops more than Ferretone, but I can't get him to give me a straight answer as he insists on sampling each item over and over again. He's usually pretty picky about his treats, but he's gradually warmed up to the idea that 8 in 1 treats aren't so bad & has been willing to sample other foods.

He has gone through a wide variety of coat changes. He went from a really dark black sable to a lighter one and then back to a darker one. He also frequently decides to change his mask pattern from just the mask over the eyes to a stripe down the middle of his nose. You can see "The Worm" on the picture page as per the usual.

He's been one of the healthier kids of the bunch. No surgeries to date, knock on wood. At almost four, he's still a wild man. He dooks and chitters when he plays and is a sucker for human attention. All-around a great fert :)

* * *

1/28/03

gizmo left us this morning..

i went in to feed last night and giz was standing in the middle of the room looking exhausted. i've seen that look before.. the one where you know there's nothing left, the one i absolutely dread seeing.

even though i knew it wouldn't do any good, i gave him fluids, his meds and got the heat pad out. and then we both sat up with him. we looked at pictures of a healthier gizmo and laughed & cried over his antics. gizmo was always the ferret to grab when you're sad, to the point of being referred to as 'kleenex'. what are we going to do without our gizzy-tissue? sigh..

this has been a long time coming, but i still wasn't prepared. giz has been depressed since the death of his brother, and he suffered from what we think was IBD, though we never quite found the right combination of meds to relieve all his symptoms. despite feeding him multiple times a day, we've steadily lost ground over the past few months. we fought the fight with him, but yesterday i could tell he was done.

we had a wonderful, but sadly all too short, five years with him. the gizzard-lizard definitely has a special place in our hearts.

:(

RIP motos..