Bandit and Kodo

Bandit and Kodo came to a forever home here at the Ferret Haven at the request of my step-daughter's best friend. Her family owned them, but wanted them to be able to run free from room to room. Because of their large dog, they had to keep the pair caged. (While there is a cage in the Haven, the doors are off of it and fuzzies use it at their discretion for sleeping and climbing.)

Bandit was a large dark sable boy who had developed severe stomach ulcers. With the help of a brilliant vet, I nursed him back to health with daily shots and lots of duck soup. Duck soup is a concoction of cat food, baby food chicken, baby food bananas and Pediasure. It's wonderful for getting sick fuzzies to eat something nourishing when they're refusing their regular food. Though it took several months, Bandit gained over a pound and became a robust beauty with a thick, lustrous coat. He was cuddly like a teddy bear. We had a couple of good years together before he was taken too soon by a bladder blockage.

Kodo, on the other hand, was the fattest, most naked ferret I have ever seen. He was also one of the happiest. Jolly doesn't begin to describe his disposition. He was over five years old when we took him in, and the vet removed his spleen right away because it was the size one would expect the spleen of a 40-pound dog to be. Minus his massively enlarged spleen, Kodo regained a lot of mobility. He could be seen daily carrying around a tiny Winnie-the-Pooh doll with him from sleeping spot to sleeping spot. He loved Winnie so much, we buried it with him, all tucked up together in a blanket. He died of a stroke, after living a long and playful life.

I wish I had photos of Bandit and Kodo, but I can't find any at the moment. Unfortunately, it's like I've heard parents of multiple children describe their photographic experience - lots of pictures of the first-born, hardly any of the youngest siblings. I'm rectifying that now by taking lots of photos of the new kids on the block that I'll introduce in time.