Our ferret Different was put to sleep yesterday afternoon. He passed away very peacefully at Village Vet in Milton.

Different came to us with his brother Same Same in August 2004. We had just returned from a trip to Thailand where the phrase ‘Same same but different’ is used to mean ‘similar’. Since they looked similar to us, we named them after this phrase.

Mark had wanted ferrets for a long time but had had trouble finding some. The dreyman at Mark’s parents pub managed to get hold of these two boys and I went to pick them up from the pub to bring them back to Cambridge. They came with half a can of Pedigree Chum dog food. I had no idea what to expect of ferrets but dutifully loaded them into the car in a catbox supplied by Mandy and brought them home.

I didn’t like the ferrets at first. They smelled bad and had no idea where to poo. We found that they pooed through the corners of the hastily bought hamster cage – their first home. So Mark obtained a tray and filled it with litter for them and left that in their cage overnight. But when we came downstairs the next morning we found them both asleep in it side by side.

Eventually we bought them a deluxe multi level ferret cage and they learned how to use a litter tray. They also learned not to bite, well, they refrained from biting Mark and I but not anyone else. Our housemate Adam seemed to be completely dominated by the boys and suffered many attacks. Different in particular was very defiant as a young kit and would not respond to scruffing, in fact, it made him bite even more.

Over the years Different has brought many happy times to the household. He made us laugh because was very particular about certain things, including a red rubber toy, which he never played with but absolutely insisted that it was stashed in a safe place. He hated the vacuum cleaner and would panic and hide as soon as it was taken out of the cupboard. He loved to dig and was the main perpetrator in destroying three different sofas. He loved potato peel and would often beg for it when we prepared potatoes in the kitchen.

Here are photos of some of the many happy times we’ve had with him:
Santa Different
Begging
Eating cream
Snuggling with my bro
Weird sleeping position
Inside the sofa
In a box with my bro. Heaven.

In early January this year we found a large lump on Different’s leg. The vet said it was an abscess and it was removed but then they found a tumour behind it. We elected to have it surgically removed and the material tested. The result was that it was a malignant type of cancer which would usually be removed with a margin, which wasn’t really possible due to the size of the tumour compared with the size of Different.

After the removal of the tumour, there were some problems with liquid collecting in the site but after that had settled down, Different had a few weeks of being almost back to normal. But the tumour did come back and although he was very determined to continue as normal, when he couldn’t walk at all and the tumour had got so big that the skin on his leg was breaking we decided that his quality of life was too low. The house feels empty without him, but he’s not uncomfortable anymore and that’s what’s most important.

RIP Different.

Same’s blood test was inconclusive. So they can’t confirm it’s cancer, but they can’t confirm it’s not either. It’s still reasonably likely that it’s cancer, and he’s definitely seriously ill whatever it is, so we’ll just carry on with the steroids for now.