Carnival of the Animals III
Guest post by Blogmom and the Mods.
Special ferret and ferret deity edition.
jmeadows
Austin in a box
Real Name: Austin
Naming rationale: Named after the city I grew up in.
Occupation: King.
Distinguishing features: Chocolate brown with a mask and hood between his eyes.
Species: Ferret!
Brief bio: Austin is the king of ferrets. He learned how to fight against Suzi when he was a kit, and began the process of proving his dominance over the other ferrets as they arrived. Once you know he’s boss, he’s very laid back.
Favorite food: Kibble.
Favorite toy: Felt jingly balls.
Most endearing bad habit: Putting up with Suzi.
Last seen: Sleeping in a box.
Stewie
Real Name: Stewie
Naming rationale: We named him after the matricidal baby on Family Guy. Glad he didn’t turn out like that.
Occupation: Seems to be changing. He used to be “that weird kid”, but then he decided to shake that.
Distinguishing features: Dark brown with a perfect mask over his eyes. Perfect.
Species: Ferret!
Brief bio: We fell in love with Stewie because of his perfect pink feet. He’s been a silly goofball ever since. He loves everyone, even Suzi.
Favorite food: Warm duck soup.
Favorite toy: Mini tennis balls. He used to hide them and sort them by color.
Most endearing bad habit: Hopping into the litter box for five seconds so I’ll give him a treat for “using it.”
Last seen: In a hammock.
Oscar
Real Name: Oscar
Naming rationale: I don’t remember! But Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street would have been a good one.
Occupation: Princeling
Distinguishing features: Incomplete mask.
Species: Ferret!
Brief bio: Oscar was the baby for a long time, which he enjoyed. We picked him because he was the biggest in the group of babies, and he was clearly a fighter. We figured he could stand up to Suzi.
Favorite food: Kibble. Or treats.
Favorite toy: Trash. (Note Oscar the Grouch.) He loves water bottles, spray bottles, and those orange prescription bottles.
Most endearing bad habit: Stealing the spray bottle of vinegar when I’m cleaning.
Last seen: Sleeping in an empty Yesterday’s News bag.
Todd
Real Name: Todd
Naming rationale: Named after a helpful Wraith in STARGATE: ATLANTIS
Occupation: Probably a princeling. He seems dominant, but it might be too early to tell.
Distinguishing features: Pale brown fuzzball with a mask
Species: Ferret!
Brief bio: He’s a baby. There’s not much to say yet.
Favorite food: Toss up between kibble and warm duck soup.
Most endearing bad habit: He has so many bad habits, it’s hard to choose just one…
Last seen: Snuggling with his brother, Bobby.
Bobby
Real Name: Bobby
Naming rationale: Named after a helpful secondary character in SUPERNATURAL
Occupation: Hard to say.
Distinguishing features: Brown with a perfect dark mask, and dappled cream and brown on his throat.
Species: Ferret!
Brief bio: He’s a baby. Not much to say yet.
Favorite food: Kibble!
Favorite toy: At first, it was any of Oscar’s toys. Now he’s taken to stealing Stewie’s tennis balls and shredding them.
Most endearing bad habit: Shredding Stewie’s tennis balls.
Last seen: Snuggling with his brother, Todd.
Kippy
Real Name: Kippy
Naming rationale: My BFF Holly named her. Because she is a Kippy.
Occupation: Boss of everyone, deity of ferrets.
Distinguishing features: Longhaired calico with black eyeliner.
Species: Kippy!
Brief bio: Kippy and her siblings were discovered in my grandpeople-in-laws’ skating rink. After a few month of insisting we didn’t need another pet, we gave in and chose Kippy, because she was gorgeous and didn’t seem to mind the ferrets.
Favorite food: Chicken. Off my plate.
Favorite toy: Tiny catnip mice. Or rings off milk jugs. She plays fetch with those.
Most endearing bad habit: Running through the house like a herd of elephants at night. She’s only eight pounds. How can she make so much noise?
Last seen: Sitting in a window, collecting fresh air and sunshine.
Postscript
Miss Suzi and Diego died unexpectedly recently after their profiles were written. We didn’t want to leave them out.
Miss Suzi
Naming rationale: We named her after my mother-in-law.
Occupation: Princess, menace to society, Mistress of Doom
Distinguishing features: White, with black eyes that watched you everywhere you went. (And turned red when light hit them.)
Species: Ferret!
Brief bio: Suzi was our first ferret. She was old and cranky, but that wasn’t an excuse. She always behaved old and cranky. She didn’t like other ferrets — except Austin — and had all kinds of schemes plotted. If only others hadn’t kept foiling her plans for world domination.
Favorite food: Babies.
Favorite toy: A stuffed bear. It no longer has eyes. Or a throat.
Most endearing bad habit: You knew she was feeling good when she was mean. When she was sick, she was unnervingly sweet.
Don Diego de la Vega
Naming rationale: I held a poll on my LiveJournal. The Internet decided what to name him.
Occupation: Zorro!
Distinguishing features: He was a roaned blaze. He used to be dark brown with a white streak down his head, but he turned nearly white, except for a few gray hairs and the dark spots around his eyes.
Species: Ferret!
Brief bio: We didn’t realize it when we bought him, but Diego was deaf. We’d read all about how difficult deaf ferrets could be to train, and sometimes they might bite too hard because they can’t hear others squealing when they’ve gone too far, but Diego was an angel.
Favorite food: Kibble. Or treats.
Favorite toy: Other ferrets.
Most endearing bad habit: Diego didn’t have any bad habits.
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