If you have a "Happy Tail" that you'd like to share, please send your story and photo's to:
christinna@txferretrescue.org. 

Dandy

Submitted: February 2010

I came to Millie's originally looking for a young female ferret. However Millie had mentioned beforehand that sometimes the ferret picks you instead of the other way around. With Dandy, that's exactly what happened. I watched several ferrets play for awhile and then saw this really cute little fella. I picked him and he just watched me. He was so sweet and charmed me instantly.  When I brought him home, he easily won over my 6 year old son, along with everyone else that comes by.  He's really adventurous in the sense that he will attempt to get into EVERYTHING! I even had to move a betta fish bowl because I caught him with his nose in it one day! (No worries, the fish is safe up on a high shelf now!)  He's still super sweet and loves to play. He's a regular little packrat; he loves hiding his toys under the couch or his cage.  We are thrilled to have this sweet little guy in our family! :)

Tiffany Boatman
Sanger, TX

Reno, Sophie, Marmadook, and Rhodes

Submitted by:  Susan Jones, Odessa, TX
June 2009

Two of our original Rainbow Girls have passed on this year and we were dealing with depression (both with us and the surviving ferrets).  So back to Texas Ferret Lover's Rescue we go over Memorial Day weekend to look for a playmate for Reno.  We were going to get one at least and perhaps two just in case first impressions didn't work out.  We let Reno and Rhodes mingle with the other ferrets for several hours...Millie has so many wonderful, beautiful, playful ferrets (hint for all you out there reading this; GO ADOPT TWO, TOO)  We left with Mahmoud and Sophie.  On the way home from Dallas to Odessa, the big boy got called many things as he made the trip very interesting!  We decided on Marmadook because the trouble he gets into reminds me of that lanky, mischievous Great Dane comic character.  So we've been home a few weeks, now.

Rhodes and Sophie fight over tunnel territory....Rhodes is the new Alpha female (but don't tell Reno)...especially when Marmadook is around.  Rhodes was getting treats out of the the little roller ball the other night and everyone gathers round like hyenas to get any pickens that the queen lets them have...Rhodes turned her nose up at one kibble and Dook swooped in to pounce on it...Man, he got a look from her and she reared up on her back end and dove into the back of his neck and did the alligator roll.  She is 1/2 his size and he coward off with his tail between his legs...and the treat in his mouth.  It was truly the funniest thing I have ever seen. 
 
Reno and Duke are best buds...she's a real tomboy and he was just what she needed.  Dook can still play a little rough with the fragile lil' girls so we have tunnels strategically placed around the house for a safe-house where Reno can run and hide for a few minutes to rest.  This has worked well and sometime he just rests at the tunnel entrance waiting for her to recharge.  Sometimes when Rhodes gets tired of Sophie trespassing in her tunnels, she'll sleep with Reno too.  And Sophie sleeps with Dook and Reno when Rhodes wins the tunnel argument.  It's quite the soap opera.  

Sophie hauls everything she can get her mouth on into our bed and then snuggles up for a nap. She moves her stashes quite frequently and lays claim to every single jingle ball there is...I can't buy enough of them!  She is also fond of the acrylic ice cubes in my Coke Waterfall in the foyer.  She digs them out, hauls them around and chases them around on the floor.  Marmadook is into EVERYTHING - he can jump from the sofa to the coffee table; jump into either bathtub - thankfully he can get out too.  I hate to scare anyone; but there is evidence he has been on the top shelf in the closet!  (must be a cross between cat and monkey?)  He and Sophie both are so high energy and Rhodes and Reno can't dare keep up.  We love them all very much as each on is so special in their own way.  Thanks Millie & Patrice
--
All Fur Thuh Luv of Ferts!

Dinah and Violet

Submitted by: Dawn Chapman, Frisco, TX
May 2009

We adopted two cage mates on February 28th and our lives haven't been the same since.  We haven't had an actual "KIT" in our group for over 6 years and to have TWO at the same time was definitely amazing.  We brought our kennel expecting to pick up little Dinah, but Millie suggested we "try out" the other baby, Violet, to see how things would work out...a very unexpected addition.  The two are attached at the HIP it seems!  They were definitely bonded and got along so well.  They even brought out the "inner-kit" in our 6 year old, Fisher.  He's been jumping around and laughing and playing a lot more lately.  We are so happy to see him this way.  And the little girl we adopted from Millie last year, Penny, has taken on the role of the mommy.  She babies these two and really enjoys playing with them. 
 
The only problem we've had (and we had it with Penny as well), is the socialization with our private bred ferret, Ivy.  She just has a hard time with change and getting along with others...at first.  It took us three months before we could keep her and Penny in a cage together.  Now with these two new babies, it's all starting over again.  Luckily it only took us only two month as they are now all staying together.  I think it was because they were a lot faster at standing up to Miss Ivy.  Penny was just a sweet little girl and didn't really know how to fight.  Ivy is just a big bully to the new folks, but is really a sweetheart once we get past this stage.  The key thing we used was patience and persistence.  Lots of separate playtimes and lots of cleaning up messes.  It sounds and looks horrible to see them fighting, but they have to.
 
But the good thing about the adoption, is that these two girls are together and are QUITE happy.  Every outing to Dinah is like the first time getting out EVER.  We've never heard ferrets talk as much as these two do.  And they would stay out for hours if we'd let them.  Dinah stayed out for over 2 hours one morning and STILL didn't want to be put up.  But just like a baby, even though she was grumpy going to bed...she was OUT once she got comfortable.
 
So, we've enjoyed giving these babies a good home and each and every one of our sillies is loved and very well cared for.
 
~Dawn & Peter Chapman
*Fisher*Ivy* (our last two WA babies) 
and our adopted three from Millie *Penny*Dinah*Violet*

 

Jessie, Zerelda, Ozzie, Ginger, Whisper,
Monkey and a sweet baby squirrel

Sent in by: Janice
April 2009

We found a injured baby squirrel and was able to save her but her injuries were so severe that we couldn't return her to the wild.  She was a sweet little girl.  It's amazing how much we came to love her.  She got mange and the meds the vet put her on caused kidney failure and we lost her.  We were very heartbroken. When our son came for a visit, he told us about a friend who had a ferret and how much fun they are.  We decided to get one too.  Jessie was an albino, fun loving, a joy to have.  He would do this little superman jump when you walked by.  He'd jump off whatever he was on, trusting us to catch him. We ended up adopting the ferret our sons friend had too.  Zerelda came to us with some problems.  She was too scared to come to us.  We couldn't hold her.  She wouldn't even look at us.  It took a lot of love and attention to help her get over her fear of us. When Jessie died from testicular cancer, Zerelda was very depressed.  She stopped eating and playing.  She just wanted to sleep all the time and lost weight. I ended up adopting another ferret from a girl who couldn't keep him to keep Zerelda company.  His name is Ozzie. He is now the King Of The Castle, or thinks he is.  Though he's a bit of a bully, he's also a sweet, loving little guy and very protective of his girlfriends.  He spends a lot of time in "time-out" because he thinks he owns everything in the house. One day, while on the Internet and saw the article about Ginger. She needed someone to make her last years happy. She was so pretty and when my hubby saw it, he wanted her.  He said "I can make her happy".  He really has too.  She's such a joy. I also fell in love with Whisper. She was so shy. It took us 6 months of holding her, talking quietly to her, and getting on the floor playing with her to bring her around. Zerelda helped too.  Zerelda and Whisper have been inseparable ever since. Millie also ask me to take Monkey, who was a severe biter.  When she bites, we get onto her verbally, not yelling though, they can tell by the tone of your voice.  We also scruff her like her momma would or pull on her ear [not hard].  She also goes into time out. She hasn't bitten anyone in 3 weeks.  She now comes to us to be picked up and loved on.  If you are consistent in your training and love, they can and will learn.  Don't give up on them. It's incredible to see the change in them, to see them confident in themselves and in your love. We now have 5 ferrets and each one is special, different in their own way. We are able to spend a lot of time with our ferrets.  They are free to roam up to 12+ hours per day. We think that makes a difference. They are very loving, funny, and so very sweet.  They all have a special place in our heart and we are glad to have each of them. They can always put a smile on our faces.  Someone called them "Gods little clown". I truly believe they are.  ALL THEY NEED IS LOVE, LOVE IS ALL THEY NEED       Thanks,  Janice      

Nick and Ayumi

We adopted Ayumi three years ago from the shelter when our then senior ferret, Rob, lost his partner. Tiny, even for a ferret, and inquisitive beyond belief, she gave us several hair raising moments trying to find her when she went exploring a bit TOO expertly. That was part of her charm though - afraid of nothing, into everything. When Rob passed on, we brought her to the Rescue to pick out her own new friend and she chose the huge Nick. Their only disagreement came early when Nick hadn't learned how to sleep on Ayumi properly and sparked that "person on the other end of the phone in an old cartoon" stream of ferret invectives from Ayumi. Nick is a gentle giant, he actually enjoys a good lap sprawl and face rub, but that's secondary to a dangling Chewweasel treat. Now Ayumi has passed on and it will be Nick's turn to come to the rescue and find a new friend...

Submitted by: Wolf-Who-Sings

Rune and Rafe

Rune and Rafe are a joy to have.  I have 11 foster ferrets for the rescue and they get along with every single one of them.  And boy-o-boy do they play play play.  They wear out every other ferret I have. 

Rafe is like a little commando.  She trots her little feet as fast as she can and as low to the ground as possible to each door jam couch corner and table leg so she can chatter with delight when she thinks she has scared you after pouncing out from her position.  She loves to chase me around.

Rune is all brut muscle and energy.  You can’t hold him too long or he just knows he is gonna jump out of his skin.  He loves to be at the bottom of the “sleep pile”.  Sometimes he is the base of 6 or 7 ferrets all sleeping together.  Rune loves to crawl up my back; but his favorite activity is to wait until I am asleep and then attack my pony tail holder.

They are truly a blessing.

Patrice Daley, Mesquite

Boo and Max

Boo and Max came to the shelter one night as cage mates.  Unfortunately it was too late for Max he passed just a couple of hour later before we could even have him checked by the vet the next morning.  Boo went to the vet and we found he had Insulinoma which we could easily treat.  The tough part was that Boo went into severe depression.  He missed Max terribly and his heart was broken.  I had to force feed Boo baby food for over two weeks every four hours.  Then when he was willing to lick on his own I had to hand feed for an additional 5 weeks before he slowly started to eat his kibble on his own.  Boo is a different ferret today.  He loves to play.  He love to war dance all over his new home and it quite a Casanova with the ladies.  Agnes is one of my females who does not like other ferrets.  I found Boo was taking his treats to Agnes and then watching her eat them.  They now sleep together quite often and Boo has managed to convince Agnes that his friend Flash is a good sleeping buddy too.  He is truly a blessing.

Patrice Daley, Mesquite

Flash

This is what Flash looked like when he came to me.  I love fostering this little guy he just loved having other ferrets to play with.  He didn’t care if they could kick is butt; he was under weight, bald and he would jump into a fray of frolicking weasels from day one.  Flash gets Lupron shots once a month for his Adrenal disease.  His right back leg is also permanently dislocated but he keeps up with the rest and is having a blast.  Now Flash is a different ferret just 5 months later.  I had to give you an “after” picture or you would never believe it.

Patrice Daley, Mesquite

Tucker

Noah

Jax was our first ferret, adopted from Petco Store.  We had him 3-months before ferret math set in.  We learned of Millie Sanders of Texas Ferret Lovers Rescue (TxFLR) from our vet assistant who  adopted several from her.  Noah couldn't be a sweeter boy.  He chose us by staring up at us with those innocent eyes.  Our boys got along great.  Three weeks before Christmas 2005, Noah had hind leg weakness.  I got on the email list and was told to get him to a vet ASAP. Our only choice was to take him to an emergency clinic across town.  All the tests came back negative.  We were sent home puzzled with no answers.  At Dr. Murray's office on Friday, Millie, Christinna and Cindy were there and Noah, with his Santa hat on, quickly drew everyone's attention.  Again, tests came back negative but Dr. Murray diagnosed possible JV Lymphoma, gave him a few days to 3-weeks to live if this was so or on a positive note, it could just be a back injury from a fall.  Either way the medication would help him.  We were expecting the worst but Noah quickly responded to the meds and by the 2nd day, he was able to stand and walk.  Three weeks later, he was going strong with no sign of cancer.  Many friends and family prayed for our little guy and we know God does answer prayers.  Noah is still with us today.  There are no words to describe the bond between Noah and me.  He's mommy's little angel and a true little miracle. - The End

PolyEster

Canvas (AKA JellyBean)

Charlie, Maggie & Ziggy

Submitted by:  Diana
Adopted 2 years ago (2004)
Charlie is a DEW. (Dark-Eyed White) handsome boy
Maggie is a precious sable
Ziggy is an adorable sable
All are around 6-7 years old.