Hero was our first ferret, and also our oldest and dearest. She was gentle, sweet, and cuddly - loved to be held and would actually nap with us. She left this world on the 17th of December - I woke up in the middle of the night, about 4am, and felt like I should go check on the ferrets. I'm glad I did - she was curled up in the corner of their cage, barely moving. Just hours prior, at about 9pm, she was out for their evening playtime, like nothing was wrong. I immediately rushed her to our emergency vet, who initially suspected low blood sugar, but when they got a sample, her blood sugar was fine. Unfortunately, her kidney levels were not. Her readings indicated that she was in kidney failure. Our vet, who has ferrets of her own, actually lost her ferret to kidney failure about 2 months ago, and she explained to me sadly that ferrets almost never respond well to treatment, and where Hero was almost 6 years old, her prognosis was grim. I spent about an hour with her in the exam room saying goodbye, and then gave them permission to euthanize her. I stayed with her until the end, and I hope that she knows that I would have done anything to keep her with us, if she could be healthy again.
Every time someone asked to meet one of our ferrets, if they had never met a ferret before, or said "I hear ferrets bite" - we would hand them Hero, and she would change their mind in an instant.
Thank you, Hero, for the years you spent making us happy. We miss you.


Here are some pictures of her - please say a little prayer for Hero if you get a chance.



^ she is on top in that one