Author Topic: You can walk anytime you like now Toblarone.  (Read 4924 times)

Offline lazy-ferret

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You can walk anytime you like now Toblarone.
« on: October 09, 2016, 10:31:02 PM »
Back in Aug 2012 things were a bit chaotic, we were busy with life and work, when Suz was suddenly taken into Hospital. Then just to add to the fun, I got a call from our local rescue, apparently, there were some ferrets in Tunbridge Wells that were being made homeless the next day, and could I possibly collect them, as the guy from the Rescue was also in Hospital.

Basically, A man was being kicked out of his house the next day, and he had some kits that needed to be taken, as he could not take them with him. He had to be out by 10am, so I needed to be there before that to collect the ferrets.

This required a fair bit of carefully planned logistics, as I ideally needed to be in 2 places at the same time, but at 8am, I was there ready to pick up the Kits… What he had failed to mention was it was not just Kits, which by the way were only 3 days old, but the mother, father, and an aunty.

They were in a bit of a mess, the cages were very dirty, and the man admitted they had not had any food for the last 3 days… even the nursing mum… The only thing good I can say is I could see he had a bit of a soft spot for the Hob, and told me he had used him for hunting a few times.

I loaded the car up with 3 cages, and set off home, where we would board them for a few days before transporting them onto the rescue.

From the moment I properly had a chance to meet the hob, who was called Alfie, I just knew that once Suz met him, he was never going to make it to the rescue. You see he was this big fluffy smelly beanie boy, who was just so sweet… I was right, his name was already potentially “Toblarone” before Suz had even come out of hospital. We quarantined him but we were due to go away in the caravan in a couple of weeks, so we needed to decide his future pretty quickly. He was tried with one of our groups, and basically Minstel loved him to pieces, so he moved into living with them. While on Holiday, we found a Toblarone mug (we collect chocolate mugs) so his name became officially Toblarone, although, most of the time he was referred to as Toby, or Tobster…





While at the show, he decided the life of being a PR ferret was right up his street, doing his best to convert anyone he met into a ferret lover. He would happily climb into a pocket, curl up in a tight ball, and just fall asleep. The best bit was the “Die Hard” ferret people who would loudly point out that you would not try that if he was a “working” ferret, to which we could say, well until 3 weeks ago he was!!



Toby settled straight in, loving having cage mates to play with. He had been kept in a cage all alone for most of his life, apart from when he was used for breeding, so he had a lot of catching up to do, and boy, he was going to catch up. I don’t think he could believe his luck, as he played manically, luckily there were a couple of “last years” kits in the cage who loved his enthusiasm so coped when he landed on them from a great height… some of the older guys were not so approving though. When asleep he was always to be found cuddled up with at least one of his new cage mates, and for the first few weeks while waiting for his hormones to wear off after he was neutered, all the ferrets in the cage smelt like “full hob”.



He was one of those special ferrets, who never used his teeth when playing, and no matter how busy he was, he always had time to stop and give you a kiss before heading off again.



We ended up keeping all the adults, and several of the kits Toby came with, and once it was decided they were staying as well, he had 2 of his sons move in with him and the other ferrets. The downside to this was, the 3 of them all looked so alike, to the extent they even got first place in the Pairs class at the Ferret Show. Because of this, we have lots of photos of white fluffy Beenies, but have no idea which ones are of him, as opposed to his sons.

Toby and his son Reject taking a walk on the beach.


He was a close as it was possible to being the perfect ferret, he had a lovely character, gave fantastic kisses, and loved to walk on a lead, although he would sulk terribly if it was one of the other guys turn, and he had to stay at home. One of the fun things with walking him was, when we walked him with his son, he would get so far along the walk, and then the two of them would start to war dance, and keep pouncing on each other, which would have us in stitches as we walked along behind them.



Unfortunately, one of his sons died at a very young age, a short while after being diagnosed with a heart condition, and then more recently after several trips and overnight stays at the vets, Toby was also diagnosed with a possible heart issue, and we were in the process of trying to treat it. He went downhill fairly quickly, and we were having to syringe feed him every hour, but in the end, he just curled up in Suz’s arms, gave a big sigh, and passed on to the Rainbow Bridge.



We are going to miss him terribly, and so are his cage mates who are very subdued at the moment.

Sweet Dreams Toby, thank you choosing us...  :adore: :angel1:
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Offline star

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Re: You can walk anytime you like now Toblarone.
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2016, 09:27:22 AM »
 :cry: DIP Toby.

So sorry for your loss, a lovely tribute to a lovely boy. xx

Offline Vicki-Ann

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Re: You can walk anytime you like now Toblarone.
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2016, 01:09:54 PM »
So sorry  :cry:

He really landed on his feet with you and it sounds like he made up for all the time he missed out on life.
Sending hugs, we never get long enough with these guys.

DIP Toby  :angel1:

Offline Lee

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Re: You can walk anytime you like now Toblarone.
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2016, 04:28:34 PM »
So sorry for your loss Clive and  suz.
Sounds like he had a great life with you both. DIP Toby
Having ferrets in your life makes you want more ferrets 😉

Offline wilbur

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Re: You can walk anytime you like now Toblarone.
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2016, 04:40:01 PM »
DIP Toby. :(

Offline girly-lazy-ferret

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Re: You can walk anytime you like now Toblarone.
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2016, 02:15:20 PM »
So many memories, one of my fondest was when we took his son and one of his cagemates out for a walk. As you know walking ferrets isn't a short passtime so when we got back it was getting to dark to take another pair out. Tobster had the hab dabs, he literally rose on his back legs and stamped the floor with his front paws, making it quite clear what he thought :laugh:.

But he also worked it the other way he had already had a walk the previous day so we thought we will take Reject his son that day with us, and he doppleganged pretending to be his son, until he gave it away with a kiss. We know his son has a quirk which means he certainly doesn't kiss.

I am glad you had recently had a holiday with us, some lagoon walks and a ferret wander around a country event.

I miss you Tobster, as do your cage mates. :cry: