Ringing In A Ferrety New Year

Last night I ended up staying home (details in my Entropy blog) and it was just me and the ferrets to celebrate the New Year. The three younger weasels were totally playful and wild and pretty much kept going like Energizer bunnies for three and a half hours.

Zephyr's favorite game lately is one the late, great Pertwee loved: to go into the tunnels and have me play with her through the tunnel walls. She scratches and I scratch back, she sticks her nose in the little holes in the hard plastic tunnels and I stick a small finger in. She'll turn around and lick it or gently nip at it or go for another hole and I'm supposed to follow. When she goes into the soft tubes I lift them and tumble her. When she comes to the end we play a little hide a seek. Zephy was also incredibly affectionate and full of kisses. So was Chin Soon, for that matter, when she wasn't jumping, pouncing Ella to start a wrestling match, or relocating her polar fleece balls.

The only down note was when Ella jumped Nyssa, I think just wanting to play. Nyssa was barely awake at that point and let out a squeak. The hair on her tail stood up and she just stood there, shivering. Nyssa just wasn't ready for wild play. She rarely ever is anymore and it has to be on her own terms. Ella meant no harm but it just didn't go well. I picked Nyssa up and she just wanted to be held. She shivered a lot. It was time for her medicine maybe 20 minutes later and that, plus the "treats" that go with it (like her high calorie supplement) seemed to help. Nyssa settled down to sleep in the fleecy blanket and rested comfortable.

By 11:30 all the ferrets were crashed out but Nyssa was ready to get up again. This time Nyssa was very awake, very alert, and very playful. My old ferret and I rang in the New Year together. She played with her doggie, wanted up on the couch, wanted to be hand-fed some TF senior, and went and had three other dinner breaks. (Is this a ferret or a hobbit?) With Zephyr asleep she even decided to run through the tunnels. In many ways she really was her old self which was just plain great to see. We had a full hour of one-on-one time and for Nyssa a straight hour of play and run is very rare indeed nowadays. Ella, Chin Soon, and Zephyr were all great fun but Nyssa's finish to ferret playtime made it a very special and very happy New Year.

Nyssa was diagnosed with lymphoma in November, 2004. No ferret of mine has held on so long with this disease. Neither Nyssa's vets nor I dreamed she'd still be here in 2006 and still be playing. She's even put a couple of ounces back on, something she desperately needed to do.

I don't usually stay up late anymore so I was exhausted but happy.

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