Annie has one amazing tale to tell! She found us, yes at Powys Country House the day after our wedding. We heard screams from the garden, the kids shouting “It’s a rat, it’s a rat”, then one of our sons, Isaac, casually remarked “It’s not a rat, it’s a poor skinny ferret”. Of course, after that moment there was no going back, the kids were instantly in love with “Martin” as he was known at that point.
A rescue party was sent out for supplies, ferret food, flea treatment, vitamins, bedding, etc. Within an hour or so “Martin” was made comfortable in his very small hamster cage, kindly gifted to us by our hosts at Powys. So several days past, and “Martin” was very happy sleeping, eating and going to the loo, this was his routine for the rest of the holiday. I fully expected to find him lifeless one morning, as he was so weak, clearly suffering from malnutrition, completely emaciated and covered in ticks. However, we were due to leave and left with a dilemma, we can’t possibly release “Martin” into the wild, contrary to popular believe, ferrets are not wild animals. So it was agreed by all that it would be best for us to take “Martin” home with us and give him the most comfortable days as we could…
Over 15 months later and “Martin” is now the very fabulous Annie! No he did not undergo a gender reassignment! As soon as we returned home, we took “Martin” to our family vets, who quickly informed us that he was a she and had been left in season for far too long, this can be life threatening for a ferret as it causes them to become anaemic. So Annie was immediately given injections to take her out of season which then enabled us to have a hysterectomy performed to ensure she stays fit and well.
Well…. she is certainly FIT AND WELL now, she is one crazy fun loving adorable ferret! She gives the whole family hours of entertainment and fun. She has her own house in the back garden which is a very posh wooden shed, complete with beautiful bay windows! Annie has an amazing climbing frame which enables her to sleep safely at various heights in her house on one of the four hammocks she uses. She has a dinning room and a separate bedroom, together with a playroom and separate toilet facility. Annie particularly likes her daily visits from “the Mums” as whilst her living quarters undergo a vigorous clean, Annie gets the free run of the shed, which includes a play in the fabulous wood store.
Annie does enjoy coming into the house from time to time, and even helps out with some of our online promotional work when she’s not busy playing!!
She is by far the cheekiest member of our fury family, she has a real character that I certainly would never have believed possible in a ferret. I’ve grown extremely attached to Annie, I feel like she was sent to be with us as a very special wedding gift, perhaps from someone who could not be at our wedding.
It made me so sad to find a photograph of Annie when we first found her, so sad in fact that I didn’t want to post it on here.
This video clip was taken only a couple of days ago, you can see how cheeky she gets just by watching this very short clip and perhaps understand why we love her so much.