Geoff really wanted a dark-eyed white, so we had our eyes open for one but didn't really expect to find one. One evening, we were in our favorite pet store and found a tiny little DEW in with the rest of the store's fuzzies. She was very busy wrestling with the largest male in the cage. Definitely a ferret that would fit in with our wild group!

Of course we brought her home.. Isn't that just like us?

She was kept in the travel cage because she was just barely 7.5 wks old and very tiny. She had to live by herself until she was big enough to interact with the other kids, but now she lives happily amongst the pile.

When she was in her cage, all she would do is cry. I would take her out and the crying would change to loud dooking and off she'd go. She'd run around and around and then zonk out with Tonic in one of my drawers. If you woke her up, she'd start the process all over again.

Now that she's older, she no longer cries. Just dooks loudly and zooms around the room. She's not much of a cuddler, but she's adorable when she plays.

She got her name because we needed a fairly uncommon name and the people at the pet store suggested Vanilla (among other things). And so it was. I tend to call her "Mouse" though, as she is a bit skittish. But she always looks at me blankly whenever I call her anything other than Nilla.

All I have to do is say "Nilla-nilla-nilla" and she's at my feet. Ok, so I bribed her with treats to learn that trick :)

I can usually tell who's vying for my attention when I walk in the room. Dook gets annoyed with the whole process & just climbs right up my back (he's in love with my hair). Nilla taps the back of my calf persistently until I pick her up. It's this cute little pitter-patter unique to her.

She has this bad habit of pooping *next* to the litter box as opposed to in it. Doesn't matter if it's clean or dirty or where it's at, she's simply against it. As long as there's a towel there, she will behave and use the box. However, since we have Baloo, anything that's not nailed down tends to get moved from it's rightful spot.. So I have a feeling I'm stuck with the misses.

Aside from that one little thing, she's the most wonderful ferret we could've ever asked for. She's gentle & sweet and very cute :) It's easy to get her so riled up that she explodes into dance. All it takes is a tickle to the tummy or just looking at her funny.

She had her left adrenal out in September. It's almost the end of October now and I'm just starting to see new hair. I wonder if it's because she's white that I didn't notice it as quickly as I did on Orion. Either way, it's there! The two of them are so goofy looking with their matching shaved bellies.

Anywho.. Pictures of the "Mouse" have been posted, though I definitely need to post some newer ones!

3/31/03

This week has been one of overwhelming sadness. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, we had to let Nilla go.

Earlier this week I jokingly said "she really must not be feeling well, she hit the litter box!". She won't be remembered for her accuracy with the box, that's for sure. She went on the bookcase, in the rice box that she loved, on the floor, etc. Eh, but what's a little ferret mess...

She's been with us since she could fit in the palm of my hand. She used to cry until I'd give in and let her out "just one more time" and then would run off in a gale of dooks. When she lived with Geoff, she'd have hiss wars with him, as he's more stubborn than I about when it was time to go to sleep.

She was a wonderful babysitter to the young, a hammock buddy to her friends, and a mad war dancer at the sight of falling rice. She was a nut and a princess all in one.

She had been feeling kinda down this past week, so I started carting her around in my apron pocket and seeing that she continued to eat/drink. She never turned away her food ... and the spoiled little thing that she was soaked up the pampering.

Saturday night, I came home and fed her right away. She was looking a bit deflated, but perked up quite a bit after she had some dinner. I then put her back in the ferret room & went about my chores. When I went in to play with the kids a little later, and found Nillas face down on the cage floor. Damn. I gave her some sugar and managed to get some more food into her.

She seized again a couple of hours later. The sugar didn't work that time (got a glucose & it was high, so it wasn't an insulinoma thing). She had another massive seizure and we chose to let her go...

I don't know what it was... She had her left adrenal gland removed two years ago, and has been on Lupron for symptoms since last year. She was too young, and I miss her like crazy.

Rest in peace, sweet Nilla-fluff.