I have had to sit on this for a couple of days, as I really am not sure what I can write, that will do him justice.
When Lion came to us, we had gone to the rescue to get a couple of ferrets as a belated birthday pressie for Suz, as our numbers had dwindled right down to just 8 ferrets.
Somehow, we came away from the rescue with 6... Still not sure how that happened.
Lion was with his brother Chewit, and they were a right pair of monsters, and a bit nippy, but they wanted to play continually, and looked like they would be so much fun and liven up the house. The other deciding factor was their size, Chewit was a huge beenie boy, and Lion was one of the biggest polecat hob we had ever seen, he even got stuck in a 4" soil pipe, and we had to go out and get some larger tubes, as he loved playing chase in them with his brother and the other two beenie hobs we got at the same time.
They were all monsters, proper young hob ferrets, with a zest for life, and now they had a home, nothing was going to slow them down. We actually could not wait to get them neutered, in the hope it would calm them down a bit, as 4 full on hobs was definitely a handful (Lion on his own was already a handful). The Rescue had said they would get them neutered, once they were old enough, so we returned them one evening, so they could go to the vets the following morning with a couple of others from the rescue. That night we put them in one of the rescue cages, with wood shavings, and no soup or raw chicken to go to bed with, and left them. This was a bit of a shock after becoming used to the fleece bedding, and free roam they had here. I told them that it was their own fault we had returned them, as they had been such monsters...
The next day, in the evening, we went to pick them up, and they literally came running to the doors of hutch, just at the sounds of our voices, and were so happy to see us. I wish I could say it gave them better manners, but these guys were unbreakable...
Lion became one of those characters, always playful, never stopped nipping if he thought he could get away with it, and weirdly, the most gentle treat taker we have ever had. We found that we were saying "No Lion" so often, he actually started to come to us, when we said "No". "No Lion" became his name for most of his life, well, the polite one you could say in public anyway.
Over time, we have had a few Polecat coloured ferrets, Badger, who was awesome, then Curly, Wurly, & Galaxy, who we thought were all the devil's personal demons, but I think the Devil decided to prove we knew nothing of demons, so sent us "No Lion".
Lion spent his life, thinking up evil plans, far too many to mention, and they were so frequent, I don't think we would even be able to remember all of them anyway.
He dug holes in the garden... all the time, and if you piled up grass cutting or leaves, he would just spread the pile back out, he lived to get into the shed, and hide from us. If you got on your knees to do any gardening, you were just asking to be attacked, with no mercy shown.
Lion in the garden, with Chewit.
https://youtu.be/ok56p54cEDgHe got onto the table, and from there, the window sill, throwing stuff all over the floor, plus ripped the net curtains. He climbed up the Welsh Dresser, to get to the treats.
He could jump the longest distance, daily, jumping the 3 foot from the sofa to the coffee table. If he did it from where we sat, he knew we would stop him, so he would go right down to the end of the sofa, and jump from there, sliding across the table and knocking everything over. If we popped out of the living room, and left a cup of tea on the table, he would knock it over, many times we were worried he had got burnt, only to have him war dance away from us, very happy.
He was obsessed with the camomile tea bag in Suz's cup, and would literally fight you to get it, not in the least bit worried about any casualties on the way.
Out of nowhere, he would grab your trouser leg, and rag it, then disappear before you could look down and catch him. Leave an elbow over the arm of the sofa, and Lion would jump up and bite it.
This is an example of how Lion has to wreck things, we put these across the pond to stop the heron getting the fish... watch till the end.
https://youtu.be/RJ334-PCDFMThe funny thing was, he caused so much trouble, that he was always in our thoughts. We would be out and spot things that Lion would love to wreck, or spot things that we would want to buy, just to wind Lion up. Nerf guns, water pistols, ping pong guns, you get the idea. One day we spotted a pet Santa Suit, and the words "Dare" and "Lion" were uttered...
Don't worry, he got his own back...
He loved to go for walks on a lead, but he was not a safe ferret to let anyone else pet, as he always had his teeth at the ready.
On the camp site we like to go to, there are 2 large lakes, and Lion regularly fell in, while sniffing along the banks, much to my delight.
Nothing was safe from Lion, Suz's handbag...
Try and sit down with some strawberries and Squirty cream... come to that anything with squirty cream, he knew the sound it makes and was there before you have even finished the first squirt!!!
Even when out, squirty cream was not safe.
We did discover that Lion also has his own Traction Engine
Sadly, earlier in the year, Lion started loosing his fur. We initially thought it was a bad moult, but it got to the point he had bald patches. The Vet was at a loss, as he was not showing any of the adrenal symptoms and his "bloods" showed nothing amiss. He also developed a cough, so after trying a few things, he was given an ultrasound, and a large mass was found nestled between his Lungs, and his Heart... This was the first time I had seen any evidence that Lion actually had a heart.
Owing to the location, it was decided that the chances of him surviving the operation, were very slim, and they thought he only had a couple of weeks left. We decided to let him live out his life spoiled, and basically allowed to get up to all the bad things he was used to doing. As the time went on, he lost all his fur, and was a totally Pink demon for the last weeks of his life, which just as expected, he refused to listen to the experts, and made it another 8 weeks.
I don't want to remember him as the weak pink lad he became, so I had to save this picture till last, it's about the only picture of Lion being cute (asleep), but it does show him in his majestic Polecat coat, ready to reap havoc on the first unsuspecting thing to pass by. That was "our" No-Lion.
Sweet Dreams Lion, you were true to your evil ways from beginning to the end, and I will miss not having to sort out what ever mess you created next, but to be honest, I am so glad you went in my arms, when you did, as it was heart breaking seeing you become so helpless, and un-Lion-like.
I think it goes without saying that you will be having a ball at the Rainbow bridge, I just hope there are enough Angels up there to clear up after you. I have visions of you climbing the Rainbow and then jumping off, just for the fun of it
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