I had been involved in showing my ferrets in the past, but had pretty much stopped going to shows. Back then they didn't do vet checks, and every time I took my kids to a show, they ended up getting sick with the flu. Also, rumors of ECE were starting to surface, and I just didn't want to take chances.

There was to be a LIFE show about 2 miles from my house in May of 1994. Several people were trying to talk me into going. My neighbor, another ferret enthusiast, was being especially persistent. She knew I wanted a blaze, and she told me that she knew someone who had a blaze kit they would have for sale at the show. That settled it - I didn't go. I knew if I went I would want to buy the kit, and that Rick would be mad. Instead, my neighbor bought the kit for herself, as she was starting into breeding ferrets. She named her Sassy Jill.

Now my neighbor does not have the greatest eyesight, and is usually too vain to wear her glasses. So, when she looked at Sassy at the show, she didn't notice that her ears had been injured. It wasn't until she got the poor little girl home that she found the problem. When she got home and started examining Sassy closely, my neighbor found that one ear had been almost completely torn off, and the other one had a notch bitten out of it. The wounds were old, and healed. She called her vet, who was also a personal friend, and the vet agreed to meet her in her office on Sunday, and see what if anything could be done for the ear. She was able to debrided the area, and stitch it together, so that the ear was more securely attached. It was never normal, though, and if you look closely in the picture, you can see the damage. The ear on the left has a tear down at the bottom, and sort of hangs out. The right ear has a little unevenness around the top. The vet trimmed that ear down to remove most of the tear in it.

My neighbor called the breeder to find out what had happened to the poor kit, and learned that a hob in rut had gotten hold of Sassy and mauled her and sodomized her when she was 12 weeks old. What my neighbor soon discovered was that poor little Sassy was terrified of all ferrets. She has her ferrets mostly free roam, and at that point she had mostly whole breeder ferrets. They could sense Sassy's fear, and constantly picked on her. Sassy had to be kept caged, to protect her. It quickly became clear that Sassy could not be a show ferret because of the damage to her ears, and also would not be a good candidate for breeding, because of her fear. Plus, she was not having a happy life at my neighbor's house - stuck in a cage and surrounded by aggressive ferrets.

After about a month, it became clear to my neighbor that Sassy just wasn't going to adjust to her house. She called me and asked if I could take Sassy. I explained Rick's insistence that we not get any more ferrets, so she asked if Sassy could just stay with me temporarily, until another home could be found. I agreed to that, and the next evening, she brought Sassy over after work. We took her back into my bedroom and shut the other ferrets out. We opened the carrier, and let her come out on her own. She immediately popped out of the carrier, and started dancing around the room. She sniffed everywhere, and pretty soon was collecting toys and stashing them in what she had claimed as her spot. She noticed one of my cats (the Himmy) and started chasing her. My neighbor was in shock. This was not the Sassy she had observed at her house. This Sassy was bold and brazen, while at her house she had been timid and scared. We tried letting my ferrets in to see what would happen. They was no friendship, but Sassy was at least willing to stand her ground. Instead of running and screaming, she stood and challenged the other kids.

So, the decision was that Sassy could stay with me while my neighbor looked for a home for her. Of course, she and I both knew that Sassy would be staying with me, but we couldn't tell Rick that just yet. I instantly fell in love with her.

The next few weeks went fairly well, except that for the first time, I had to deal with 2 playgroups. Try as we might, my ferrets would not accept Sassy. The problem was Midget. Midget was my alpha ferret, and she guarded that position fiercely. She was a tiny little girl, though. Sassy had the spunk to challenge her, and the 2 became arch enemies. Since all my other ferrets had allegiance to Midget, Sassy was the outcast. So, Sassy was happy, but lonely.

About a month after Sassy came to my house, my neighbor had someone drop a ferret off at her store (she owned and operated a jewelry store). The woman had heard of her through a friend. The woman's son had gotten a ferret, but now was leaving for college. He couldn't take the ferret with him, and his mother refused to keep it and care for it. She brought it into the store in a bare carrier, and handed it to my neighbor saying that if she wouldn't take it she was going to turn it loose in the woods. She didn't even know the ferret's name.

My neighbor took him and checked him over. He was a large sable boy, probably 6 to 8 months old. He was a pet store ferret, but not a MF. He seemed healthy, although he did lack good muscle tone. She decided to drop by my house with him on her way home. Again, we took the carrier back to the bedroom. Sassy was there, and out running. We put the carrier on the floor and opened it. The boy bounced out, and he and Sassy went to each other and started sniffing each other. I think it was love at first sight for them. There was never any need for them to see who was the boss. Sassy was the queen, and Buster became her consort. Buster adored her, and would do anything he could for her.

Over the years, as new ferrets joined our household, Sassy accepted them all, providing they understood that she was the boss. She was friends with all my ferrets in her later life, but Buster was always her special guy. They were always inseparable. You always found them curled up together. When Buster became sick, Sassy seemed to understand. She stayed with him to the end, but then didn't really grieve too much. However, she never was close to any ferrets after his death. I think she knew she would be with him again someday, and was just waiting for that.

Anyway, that is the story of Sassy and Buster.