Today is a sad day at our home.  Our pet ferret, Shenanigans, passed away last night.

Nick bought Shenanigans for me (along with his “brother” Shady) as a Christmas gift back in 2002.  Shady passed away several years ago of lymphoma cancer.  Shenanigans, though, lived to be quite a ripe old age.  Neither ferret was young when we got them, ‘Nanners had been with us for six years, so I’m guessing he was around 10 years old.

I was really very attached to Shenanigans.  He always had a very different personality than Shady, or the ferret I adopted 2 years ago (Bink).  ‘Nanners always had this endearing “grumpy old man” sort of personality.  He was happy to do his own thing most of the time, but when he grew bored he also loved to be cuddled.  He was my baby.  Shady and Bink always favored Nick, but ‘Nanners and I bonded.

I sort of knew he was getting to be an old man.  In the last year or so, he had really slowed down a lot.  He also started to lose some weight.  (Though he’d always been rather overweight, so that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.)  The last few days he’d been very sluggish and I had an appointment to take him to the vet this afternoon.  Unfortunately it was too late.  I’m glad I spent the last few evenings cuddling him in my arms and saying my “goodbyes”.  I hope he knows how much we loved him and enjoyed his time with us.

I’m also glad, in a way, that it didn’t come down to taking him to the vet and having a long, drawn-out treatment.  When Shady had lymphoma, I spent the last week of his life force-feeding him medicines.  It was miserable and after that experience I decided I wouldn’t do that again; it would have been kinder to have him put to sleep.  I’m thankful that I didn’t have to make that call with Shenanigans.

Later this afternoon a very kind gentleman from South Central Pet Services is coming to pick up Shenanigan’s body.  I’ve decided to have him cremeated and have his remains put in a nice wooden urn.  He was so special to me, I couldn’t bear the thought of burying him at our apartment complex and then leaving him behind when we move.

So tonight will be difficult.  Getting through work today has been tuff, trying not to cry — I don’t want to have to explain that I’m crying over a ferret.  Most people don’t “get” that ferrets are more like dogs or cats, not a goldfish you just flush.  I’m truly heartbroken over my little man being gone.  I just want go go home and hold Bink-baby close.  (And our dog and our cat too.)

Goodbye, sweet Shenanigans.  Mommy loves you so much.

(Photos © Erica Bickel)

Nick and Gracie at the Dog Park

Nick and I took Gracie to the dog park today.  Grace had lots of fun.  (Technically, Nick and I did too — it’s a heck of a good time to watch all the different breeds of dogs running around and playing together.)

This is the second weekend in a row that we’ve gone and there were some familliar faces there already.  There’s even another puggle (a brown one, named Chloe) that Gracie can play with!

I just had to share this adorable picture of Gracie and her “Daddy” taking a break from their playing.

Erica and Alan ferret-sat for me the other night. While the boys were staying with her, Erica took some amazing photos.  I just had to share a couple here:

This is my “little old man”, Shenanigans, hanging out on the sofa.

This is my little boy, Bink, attacking a stuffed chicken.

You can see more of the ferret photos here on Erica’s Flickr page.  You can also see more of Erica’s wonderful photography at her photo-blog.

Nick and I have a new addition to our little family…

Meet Gidget!

Gidget showed up on the doorstep of our friends, Erica and Alan, on Halloween night. They actually live on the 3rd story of an apartment building that neighbors ours and this cat had come up their back fire-escape stairs. being an animal-lover, Erica took her in. However, they already have two cats so they couldn’t keep her.

I’ve been wanting a cat for a while, but Nick was hesitant. He had good reason: I’m usually somewhat allergic to cats. Somehow, though, the only hypoallergenic cat in the world showed up that night! For some reason, though most cats make me sneeze and make my eyes water, Gidget doesn’t bother me one bit. Her owners haven’t turned up, so Nick and I have decided too keep her.

Gracie and Gidget get along fairly well.  Gidget was very afraid of her at first.  Grace just wanted to play, but can be a bit overzealous at times.  Now that Gidgy is used to her though, she loves to tease and harass Grace.  It’s actually kind of hilarious.

So Nick and I have a pretty full household now: a dog, a cat, two ferrets, three fish, and a hermit crab.  I think we’re going to need a bigger place!