Fluffy Ferret Forum

General Category => The Rainbow bridge => Topic started by: lazy-ferret on April 21, 2016, 03:58:08 PM

Title: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: lazy-ferret on April 21, 2016, 03:58:08 PM
(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/DSC_8745_zpsvvo6sgqs.jpg)

Well the day I have thought about for many a year arrived yesterday.

I can’t lie, there were many times when I thought either he or I would actually bring it about prematurely while he was pulling one of his stunts, after all, he was a ferret that’s sole purpose in life, was to wind me up, and be my continual nemesis both night and day.

Somehow though, after all my threats, he has gone to wait at the rainbow bridge, purely by natural causes.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/Galaxy.jpg)

This will have to be a very short memorial to his life, as I was always told you should not speak badly of the dead, so that does not leave me a lot to say about him really.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/11.jpg)

I knew from the beginning how much trouble he would be, as even the day he arrived, he caused trouble, and within hours of not even officially being part of the household was playing me off against Suz. He started as he meant to go on, and pretty much right up to the end he never stopped being Daddies monstrous Nemesis, and Mummies little darling.

As most of you know, I petty much stopped referring to him as Galaxy, and most of the time it was some expression that included “You Git” as a way to refer to him.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/DSC_9148_zpsayldi85h.jpg)

The way he came to live with us was dodgy, we effectively stole him. Back then he was called Limpet, as he clung onto you with all 4 feet and would not let go, he was with his 3 brothers at a PR event we were helping at and Suz spent most of the day playing with him. At some point he fell asleep while being held and playing with our Ripple, so we put them in a cage to sleep for a while. When we set off home at the end of the day, everyone had forgotten he was still in one of our cages, so even from day one, he was trying to get me in trouble. He was a biter as well, to be fair it was mainly when over excited, but he could give a hard nip. The worst though, was his habit of biting feet, they were something to be destroyed. This was one of my first clues to what he would become, because I realised it was only me he would normally bite, rarely Suz.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Ripple/DSC_8582_zps4shjifdl.jpg)

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Kent%20Ferret%20Club/TWTCS/DSC_0029.jpg)

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Kent%20Ferret%20Club/TWTCS/DSC_0022.jpg)

His behaviour actually resulted in one of his first official “Galaxy must go” posts…

Vicious Ferret... free to a bad home...
That's it... he has bitten my foot for the last time... he has to go....
Seems pretty healthy, judging by the speed he can go, just after he has bitten your foot, and you then try to catch him to tell him off.
Seems to have good Teeth, judging by the various indentations in most of my toes, ankle, and calf.
Hearing impeccable, as he now responds to all the bad names I call him, as if they are a good thing.
Eats pretty much anything... feet, fingers, noses, chins, other ferrets
Only possible thing that may be wrong with him, he seems to have insomnia...


I think that pretty well summed him up from day one..

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/DSC_9045_zpsjefwbnfq.jpg)

Because of the malnourished state he and his brothers had been in when they were rescued, they all had problems with their bones and joints. One of his brothers broke his leg falling off the sofa, and when the vet tried to xray him, there was not enough calcium in his bones for them to show up on the xray. Because of this, to get enough power to move around, Galaxy had learnt to cross his back legs, and hop like a rabbit and could be pretty rapid when he wanted to be. We had these two lovely oldies, Ripple and Revel, and for some reason they betrayed me, and took him straight under their wings, looking after him, gently playing with him, and encouraging him to run around the garden, getting him stronger and stronger. Revel even taught him how to play fight and encouraged him to move and run as much as possible.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Revel/DSC_9029_zpsudd1fskq.jpg)

At the first ferret show we took him to, he did win two classes, “Fluffiest Coat”, and ironically, “the ferret most people wanted to take home”… I had my chance then, but stupidly, I did not take anyone up and he still came home with us!! Having said this, he did do one good thing at the show, I have a soft spot for small sandy jills, and at this show, there was a one, who desperately needed a play mate and new home. As she was the same age as Galaxy, he fell for her big time, almost as much as me, so I got to take her home, and the Git and Minstrel officially became best friends. At the next show we went to, they both came first in their respective coloured classes, so not bad for a Cripple, although I still maintain he terrorised and blackmailed the judge.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/DSC_9994_zpsp55jrjlm.jpg)

When I think back, I had no idea at the time how so many of the first milestones we were so proud of, would come back and bite me on the bum. We were so proud when he learnt to actually jump and run like a real ferret, and proudly let everyone know when he could jump about a foot into the air to attack me, then when he learnt to climb the stairs, first one, then 4, and finally the whole flight, we again let everyone know that now I was not even safe from him in bed. When we put a gate in so we could restrict their travels to just the living room when needed, all the other ferrets could not get over it, but because of Galaxy’s extra physio, he was now able to clear it with ease, and the gate ended up with so many extra bits added to “Git” proof it, we now fall over it most times when trying to climb over it ourselves.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/DSC_8851_zpssoauiqyz.jpg)

When he first arrived, because of his leg issues he was fairly easy to know where he was as he did not move around that much, then as he progressed he would “swim” on the laminate floor to get from A to B, but was still very much grounded and relied on the others coming to play with him, rather than the other way round. Anything more than 6 inches off the floor was safe from him, as he could not reach or climb on it, but the more Revel, Ripple and Minstrel pushed him, the better and more agile he got. Suddenly he could get into and out of the cage by himself, then the garden and next the stairs… We found we needed the gate as he was a real fiend for Suz’s clothes, having a real perversion specifically for her bra and socks, so we had to keep him away from any washing, whether dirty or clean, especially as he would happily get into the washing machine to try and recover it if we were not paying attention.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/DSC_8776_zpsrv1oavrs.jpg)

Another reason we had to keep him out of the kitchen was he had a problem with bin bags… it started with him shredding the “ears” that hang over the top of the bin, and ended with him getting into the bin, and shredding the bag inside the bin. One day he nearly came to a premature end though, as he wrapped the bag round himself, and nearly suffocated, only being saved as I had heard him climbing the bin, and went out to stop him. Luckily I did get up, and not decide to just ignore it, as I found him lying in the bottom of the bin completely wrapped in the bag, so I saved his life there.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/20150503_153139-1_zpswxwuf1yn.jpg)

Whenever we lose a ferret, I do a search on here and go back through some old posts to remind me of the things they got up to in their lives… I did a search on his two most common names and had so many results it would take me a month to read back through them all as there are so many stories of the things he got up to, mostly bad, the odd one good (Yeah right), so I won’t repeat them all, I just think it is enough to say that he was a special character from day one, right up to the end.

He even has a showmans engine names after him...
(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/DSC_1249.jpg)

When we took him to the vets a few weeks back, we were told he had Lymphoma, and only had a limited time left with us. I hope this makes sense, but I did not quite know what to do, you see, if I started suddenly being nice to him after all this time, he would know something was up, whereas, if I carried on with him as my nemesis, I was treating him like normal, allowing him to live his life as normal, right to the end. To be fair, the Steroids did a great job, and for a few weeks he was back to his troublesome self, making it easy to be horrible back to him, only he had me over a barrel as I had to give him a “treat” (his medicine) twice a day. The last two weeks have been very hard, as all he wanted to do was sleep and cuddle, but he did still make a song and dance about having his “treat”, so while doing this, I took the opportunity to sneak in a little cuddle and kiss while no one was looking.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/1430255507311_zpson6l208v.jpg)

Yesterday morning, I went to give him his medicine, but instead of being up and at the bars, he was asleep, I got him out, but it was obvious he was on his way, and although I tried to get him to drink his “treat”, he was having none of it… I looked into his eyes, and realised that I had to give the boy some dignity, so rather that pull him about and shove the stuff down him, I just cuddled him close and allowed him to relax in my arms for an hour or so. When he got a bit uncomfortable, and made it obvious he wanted to stretch out a bit, I put him in his favourite cosy bed, on the sofa next to me, and placed my hand on him, where he pushed his head into me, and cuddled up. After a while, I realised he had passed on just like that…

For most of Galaxy’s life I have been threatening to bury him, either dead or alive, and whenever I needed to dig a hole in the garden he would taunt me jumping in and out of it, so I am not sure who got the last laugh in this game of life, me, for finally getting to fill that hole with him in it, after I threatened him so many times, or him for making me cry while I do it!

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/DSC_1554.jpg)

So there you go Galaxy (Sir Git), I think we finished our match with pretty even scores, as far as a Nemesis goes, you were the best. Have a whale of a time up there with Revel and Ripple.

Until we meet to spar again in the next life, Sweet dreams boy.

(http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm322/Lazy-Ferret/Galaxy/DSC_9410_zps13y8jhzg.jpg)

Title: Re: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: star on April 21, 2016, 08:53:18 PM
 :cry: I am so sorry he has gone, what an unforgettable boy. Sweet dreams Galaxy.
Title: Re: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: fiddle on April 22, 2016, 11:02:36 PM
A legend
So sorry guys x Will miss hearing about his antics x
Title: Re: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: wilbur on April 23, 2016, 07:57:15 PM
 :angel1:   DIP Galaxy, although I'm not sure the angel is appropriate for him.
Title: Re: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: lazy-ferret on April 23, 2016, 09:03:27 PM
Thanks guys... I did dig his grave extra deep, so he would not have so far to travel....  :devil:
Title: Re: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: Jan on April 23, 2016, 09:23:26 PM

So sorry to hear this Clive and Suz, it doesn't seem that long ago that beautiful baby Galaxy fell asleep on my lap at the PR event. I thought he was an angel, I'd never managed to get any of mine to cuddle up for long, let alone fall asleep on me  :adore:

I shall miss hearing of his (mis)adventures, crying with laughter at his antics, esp. when winding you up Clive :laugh:

DIP beautiful boy  :kiss1:
Title: Re: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: peterc on April 23, 2016, 09:43:40 PM
Sad to hear this, Clive and Suz.
Title: Re: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: girly-lazy-ferret on April 24, 2016, 07:57:06 PM
It's weird without him here. A quiet weekend has given me more of a chance to grieve a bit, it was hard trying to continue on at work and fake being happy.

I need to wash his bed beside me but I just can't quite brring myself to right now. :cry:

I miss you baby boy, but I hope you are enjoying the company there, till we're all together again.
Title: Re: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: Vicki-Ann on April 24, 2016, 09:26:38 PM
I'm so sorry for both of your loss.

He is clearly a little character that landed on his feet with you, lived life to the full and will never be forgotten. What a special little man!

Play hard up there Galaxy - go find Panda she would be right up your street!
Title: Re: Ding Dong the Git is dead...
Post by: Lee on April 26, 2016, 08:52:21 PM
So sorry for your loss  :angel1: