Today, Topic (AKA Topsy-turvy, Topsy) decided the time had come to go to the Rainbow Bridge... As you all know, it was not unexpected, but he has been such a fighter, he has lived a lot longer than anyone expected. He gave up fighting it this morning, and passed away in our arms at 2.30 pm.
When Topic first came, he was literally got as a friend for Poppet. He was a Beenie boy from the rescue, who had come in as a group of 24 kits. He was 16 weeks old, and to be honest, was the best of a bad bunch, e.g, he bit the least of them all, and did not beat Poppet up.
We got him home, and Poppet loved him, as she could play like a kit with him. A couple of days later, the guys from the rescue came over with Bourneville, the 16-week-old pure polecat who Poppet also loved to pieces, and seemed to immediately hit it off with Topic... It's a bit sad to think back, because Bourneville was such a beauty, and Poppet was such a star, poor Topic took a bit of a back seat for a while, even when they went to be neutered, the vets all said Topic is sweet, but Bourneville is just fantastic. Despite this, they all became really close, and all slept in a tight huddle becoming best friends forever.
Luckily, Topic, being a Beenie boy, realised that no matter what, they always seem to earn a spot in our hearts, so packed up the biting, and switched to giving kisses... On top of that, he decided he was going to be the group clown and earn a place in our hearts...
At food time...
Then after, flat on his back, cleaning his paws..
When we got Topic, we had a ferret called "Galaxy", or more often "The Git"... He was my nemesis, his entire life was spent trying to get one up on me, but even Galaxy never went as far as Topic, in his ability to wreck the place... Topic managed to throw 5 full height sliding Mirror wardrobe doors down the stairs. To say it was a disaster is an understatement, as it took out not only the mirrored doors, but smashed the banister, wrecked several stairs, took several pictures off the stairway wall, and embedded most of it in the front door, making it impossible to open. With shattered glass and wood everywhere, and our shoes on the far side of the wreckage, we were desperately trying to pick through the debris to make sure no ferrets were trapped under it all...
You can read his story here.Basically, Topic had arrived, never to be a back ground ferret again...
He was slightly loopy, he would take flying leaps at you, often from nowhere, which meant if you were walking towards where he was coming from, he would end up hitting you hard, or if you were walking away, he would crash to the floor. He gave the most amazing kisses, but if you had bare feet he would attack them mercilessly.
Another thing Topic liked to do was get into the bath as the water was running out, swimming for a bit, then snorkelling once his feet could touch the bottom. Unfortunately he grew out of this, but every night, when we got ready for bed, would insist on being put in the empty bath and playing in a water container we had in there.
Over his life, we have often made him out to be a bit daft, but he was actually a very clever little guy. He would watch you walk to the front door, and knew that if you picked your keys up, there was a potential escape attempt coming. There are also a couple of rooms in the house, where ferrets are not allowed. He would hear the doors to these rooms open, and know that if you went in, you would have to some out, so would wait by the door, and rush in, just as you opened the door to come out. Many times we never even saw him. We did start to use this to our advantage though, as if he was asleep somewhere in the house, and we were not sure where, we would open and close one of those doors, and wait for him to come running.
Topic was never a good walker, but did like the occasional day out with us. We discovered that while he had learned not to bite us any more, for some reason he was a demon when it came to anyone else touching him, and could never be trusted to let anyone else stroke him. Fortunately, on the times we did take him out for a walk, he would walk when no one else was around, but as soon as he heard or saw other people, he would climb up into my pocket.
In early 2018, he was very ill, and we honestly thought we were going to lose him. He spent 4 days and nights at the vets, and the conclusion was they think he had some sort of Adrenal disease, but this had none of the symptoms we would normally have recognised as being AD. Luckily, after a lot of care, and the Deslorin implant, he got better, but the whole episode, with his already huge distrust of other people, and what the vets had to do (sub-cuts), meant that he was so scared of the vets now, and would literally cry when we had to take him back for check ups. For many weeks after, he would have night terrors, and wake up screaming.
Sadly, at the end of 2019, we discovered he had a heart problem, and he was put on various heart drugs, plus a diuretic, and given a couple of months. Fortunately, he had other ideas, and while suffering a couple of strokes, and at least one heart attack, he went on to have great fun for another 10 months.
Topic had many fantastic qualities, but the one that we will always remember the most, is his willingness to take in new ferrets, especially kits, and "mother" them, teaching them the ways of the house, and doing a great job of teaching them some manners as well. He welcomed in Mars, Magic, Kit, Kat, Lion Chewit and Humbug, then later Sherbet, Toffee, and Peanut. We really do think that the reason he lived so long with his heart problem, was he needed to make sure that Boost and Fuse were ready to take on the world, and help make them into the gorgeous little 14week old monsters they are now.
Topic with Boost.
While Topic was scared of other people, and had a heart problem, he was as brave as a lion when a fox came in the garden, and he thought little Peanut was in danger. We lifted this video from the security cameras of him seeing the fox off.
http://www.lazy-ferret.co.uk/odd_stuff/LNR6108_ch7_main_20200226075200_20200226075552.mp4A few other pictures and video's of this special guy.
Topic with Sherbet and Toffee when they went for their first ever walk outside.
This is a video of Topic playing with Suz in the caravan.
https://youtu.be/j0cRWRd5WFgA video of Topic playing in the snow.
https://youtu.be/eB9-jgg5GgYand another playing with Poppet in the snow.
https://youtu.be/-jZp5ixnTaUThis is Topic and Flyte arguing over who is going to drive..
Topic sleeping on our bed.
This last picture taken sleeping between us on the Sofa last night.
Topsy, while I am very very sad to see you go, I am also slightly relieved. I know that the last couple of weeks have been very hard for you, and there were a couple of times, that if it had not been for the problems going to the vets this Covid 19 has created, and knowing how much you were really terrified of them, we would have taken you in to make your passing a bit easier. But maybe a bit selfishly, I really did not want to have to live with the idea of you being put to sleep, terrified in a strangers arms. I wanted you to go, surrounded but the people and ferrets that loved you with all their hearts. I hope you can appreciate that, and I hope we made the right decision.
I know you have so many friends waiting at the bridge, including your Poppet, who will be so happy to see you again. Until we all meet again.
Sweet Dreams my little Topsy-Turvy. 
