When you are fostering a new ferret, you get to meet someone entirely new, someone who looks at your house in an entirely new way. And so it is with Elvis, our newest foster guy.
Elvis has been here recuperating from his tumor removal surgery for a little more than a week.
Today, I let him out by himself. He tootled around the house a bit, looking at all the places where the other ferrets store their toys and treats. Then he came over to me.
He very carefully crawled up on the couch next to me. Then he sniffed around my ear, and started licking it! Then he eagerly started licking my face!
I was so shocked and pleased that I started giggling. And, of course, when you get the Giggles, it's hard to stop. But Elvis seemed to like that.
Next, he surfed down the blanket onto the floor, where he turned on his back and looked up at me. It seemed to be a cue for something. I tried tickling his belly -- no, that wasn't it. I thought, "He remembers that he used to do something with his human, and he expects me to do it too. I wish I knew what it was."
That is some of the saddest part of adopting older ferrets (Elvis is 4): seeing the pieces of their previous life that they bring to you. I wish that when people dropped off their ferrets, they would give a list of what their favorite things are, their tricks, their moods, and their favorite toys. That way, we wouldn't have to guess what the ferret wants when he looks up so eagerly at us. We would know.
1 comment:
That is so sad. I wish people knew that a ferret is a commitment.
Post a Comment