Scooter is an Albino Ferret

My first experience with a Ferret was a warm summer night in August.  It was late in the evening and I was tidying up the kitchen while my husband David was tending to our three cats needs for the evening.  After feeding the cats their late night snack, he hooked up our two dogs, Bea & Brittney on their leashes to take them for their nightly potty run before we headed off to bed.

Now, our home is located in the foothills of the mountains in Southern California and sits on nearly 2 acres of land.  All of the homes in our area are surrounded by one or more acres, so we really never see any of our neighbors.  Our house is also a U shape, with an enclosed courtyard, so our pets can enjoy the outdoors without the danger of the nearby cars or the packs of coyotes who move through the area from time to time.

With the dogs hooked up to their leashes, David made his approach towards the outside security door from within the courtyard, when the outside sensor light by the door lit up.  Right next to the door was a small white animal sniffing around, and walked past the door into the bush next to the house.  Bea & Brittney were startled and began to put up quite a fuss as they continued with a barking frenzy, standing on their hind legs while David held them back with their leashes, yelling for me to “come quick.”  I ran into the courtyard and found David and the dogs at the other end away from the door, with the dogs still yapping and jumping up and down.  I wasn’t sure  what all the ruckus was about until David yelled out “what’s that outside the door, I think it’s a big rat!”  I turned to see a small white animal right in front of the door, scratching around by our Honeysuckle bush, which had dropped a pile of dry leafs on the ground.  The animal seemed to be quite interested in the leaf pile and didn’t appear to care one bit about all the noise coming from the two dogs inside, who were still barking up a storm.  I stood there watching this strange little animal, totally amazed by its lack of concern with the disruption nearby, I knew the creature was not a rat, it had a long body like a weasel; and then it dawned on me, “This might be a Ferret!”

Brittney (in back) & Bea

David escorted the dogs into the house while I ran into the garage & grabbed one of the cat carriers as quickly as I could.  I knew there were no wild Ferrets in the area, so it had to be someone’s pet.  I ran back out with a small carrier, but the little critter was gone.  With the dogs now in the house  David let me know that the “Rat” took off around the corner of the house towards the front.  I ran around the garage to see if I could spot the animal anywhere, then I continued to the front of the house, but there was nothing there.  I looked around in the driveway and under the cars, when I spotted the little guy near our front door.  I shouted to David inside the courtyard that the animal was out in front, headed towards the front security door (leading back into the courtyard).  Again, the little animal did not seem the least bit worried about my presence or what I was doing, it seemed to be on a mission and was now in front of the security door sniffing around when it walked right under the door and into the courtyard with our three cats!

Bose

Buttons

I ran around to the back of the house to get back in (the front security door was locked)  while shouting to David that the Ferret was headed his way.  When I entered the courtyard I didn’t see it anywhere, but David informed me it walked over by the planter beds with the three cats!   I walked over as quickly as I could to assist with the rescue effort, but when I got there, our cats were just standing there looking at the Ferret and our cat “Buttons”, was smelling him.  The Ferret wasn’t concerned about our cats either and decided to move on as it headed back towards the door it came in through.

Kit Kat

The cats just sat there dumbfounded, which I found to be a bit odd.  I grabbed the cat carrier and headed after it, set the carrier in front of the Ferret and it walked right in.  By now, my heart was pounding with the fear of being bitten as I quickly closed the door on the carrier and set the latch, trying to keep my fingers away from the openings and away from the fangs of this vicious creature.

Not knowing what Ferrets eat, I rummaged through the fridge and found a hot dog, a cup for water and an old towel to put in the carrier for the night.  The Ferret peed on the towel, knocked over the water and walked over the hot dog pieces.  I decided to transfered him to a larger carrier for the night and we finally went to bed.

The next day, after some research online, I found a rescue site called Ferrets Anonymous and another site which Ferrets Anonymous is linked with called Legalize Ferrets.org.

I contacted them to see about finding the owner, then made a trip to Pet Smart to pick up some Ferret food and $49.00 later, returned with a water bottle, dry food, Ferret snacks, hanging tube hammock and a squeaky little soccer ball that the Ferret just loved to squeak.  This is when I found out how sweet and friendly this furry little animal is.  I was able to pick him up, cuddle him, pet and hold him without any fuss on the Ferrets behalf.

After contacting our local pet store, I was put in contact with the owners later that day.  They came by that evening to pick up their Ferret with their little six year old boy, who was pretty angry and wanted to know what I was doing with his Scooter!  Turns out, Scooter was a She.  The little boy picked her up and kissed her several times on the nose, as Scooter closed her little eyes and had such a solace look on her face, that let me know she loved and missed her family.

Although my time with this Scooter was short lived, I became very endeared to this adorable little animal and I knew right then, that I would need to adopt a Ferret into my life in the very near future.