From time to time I've been involved in ferret rescue, always adopting out the ferrets I picked up into good homes. Chin Soon was a real rarity: a rescue that we decided to keep. She was 11 months old when her original owners left her at a marshall arts studio in Wake Forest, NC. They called Infinity Pets in Youngsville, NC who picked her up and then called my housemate. She was the first really young ferret to come into our home in a very long time. She was also the first really wired little weasel we had in the house after Pertwee and Ker Avon died. We fell in love with her and decided that our home was going to be her home. Well... I had to convince my housemate but that proved to be pretty easy.

After we adopted Podo and Kodo in 2001 a firm decision was made: no more ferrets. From the fall of 2003 until the summer of 2004 we lost five wonderful ferrets to lymphoma, liver cancer, and in Kodo's case old age was probably part of it. Suddenly we were down to four ferrets at home which, after having nine for a long time didn't seem like very many. We also know that Podo was approaching his tenth birthday which would make him one incredibly old ferret. He wasn't going to live forever. Lady Ayeka had been living with insulinoma for over two and a half years at the time and we always wondered when the disease might take it's toll on her. We knew we'd need a new companion or two for the surviving ferrets, particularly for Romana, our youngest. So, adding Chin Soon was almost, but not quite, a planned event.

During Chin Soon's quarantine period I got some good one on one time with her. Her previous owners hadn't introduced her to things my ferrets have known since they were kits: toys, litter pans, or even treats. They had free roamed her so she also didn't know about the idea of a cage and she certainly didn't like it much. Hammocks, ramps, hanging toys, and sleep sacks were all new to her. She did and still does have one favorite game: hide and seek. She'd also pounce me the way Ayeka used to do all the time and loved physical play from day one. Chin Soon quickly figured out that toys were a good thing, especially ones that made lots of noise. Balls with bells in them, a sissel ball, Scoozies, and plastic easter eggs are all great fun to her. Make some noise, throw the ball or toy, and she'll chase it and pounce it. Scoozies were her first wrestling partners. They didn't put up a fight which, I'd soon learn, was how she liked it. Chin Soon quickly bonded with me and with my housemate, sometimes choosing to go to sleep in one of our laps.

Adding Chin Soon to our business also proved to be unexpectedly challenging. She had never, ever met another ferret since she was first sold and was terrified of all of them. Nyssa decided she didn't like the newcomer one little bit. Her attacks caused Chin Soon to run in terror. If Nyssa got hold of Chin Soon she'd draw blood sometimes, and Chin Soon would poop out of fear. Our new little girl had no clue how to wrestle. We'd hold her and calm her down and she'd stay with us. We made sure she had separate play time and decided to introduce the other ferrets slowly, one at a time, starting with Podo. This worked really well as the two became very bonded very quickly and would sleep and play together. When Podo wanted to wrestle Chin Soon began to reciprocate. She didn't find Podo threatening any more and Podo seemed to really like having a constant companion again, something he had lost when the White Boys and Kodo passed away. Podo became more active again. We had brought Chin Soon home to bond to the youngest ferrets and now she was only close with the oldest. So... we added Lady Ayeka to her play group and that went well too.

We still had limited, closely supervised time with all the ferrets playing together. One night Nyssa chased Chin Soon who ran to her cage which had become a place she felt safe. Nyssa cornered her and Chin Soon finally fought back. She was younger, faster, and stronger than Nyssa and won that wrestling match. From then on things slowly began to get better between those two. By the time Podo passed away at the end of August, 2004, Chin Soon was playing well with both Ayeka and Romana and clearly had bonded to both. She avoided Nyssa at first but then began to seek her out, running if Nyssa made an aggressive move. More and more they could be near each other without a problem and finally one night in November, 2004 we saw that all four ferrets had chosen to sleep together in one hammock. We finally had one business of ferrets again and Chin Soon was part of it.

For the year I lived in Cincinnati I had something new for Chin Soon: a staircase. She loved it. The problem is that she wants me to chase her up and down the stairs. Chin Soon has a lot more energy for that game than I do. Now she still wants me to chase her up and down the hall.

When Ella and Zephyr arrived my former perpetually scared ferret took to them immediately. Chin Soon, by then, was a non-stop high energy hellion, reminding me in a lot of ways of either Pertwee or Avon. Zephyr was the one ferret at that point who could match her bounce for bounce and pounce for pounce. The two became fast friends. That probably helped Chin Soon cope when Ayeka passed away and the fearsome Ms. Nyssa became our dominant alpha, or ferret-in-charge.

Chin Soon eventually decided the polar fleece toys and balls were the best things of all. She also decided they were all hers and nas become quite posessive of them. Of course Romana and Nyssa really liked those too so they'd steal them and Chin Soon would steal them back, hiding them under my enterainment center or a table. Then Romana or Nyssa would find them and it would all be done again. Sometimes Zephyr joined in this game too. Since Roaman and Nyssa passed away the polar fleece ball battles are less frequent but they still do happen, with Zephyr and Chin Soon running back and forth with the bells in the balls ringing.

By mid 2005 Nyssa was already pretty ill but still in charge. Chin Soon defered to Nyssa when she wanted to be left alone, but often Chin Soon, much like Romana, seemed really concerned about my oldest ferret, curling up to sleep with her and checking on her. With Romana's sudden death in mid-November, 2005 and Nyssa's illness progressing I was quite relieved and grateful that Chin Soon decided that Nyssa was her best friend after all. That probably helped keep Nyssa's spirits up during the last eight or nine months of her life.

Chin Soon doesn't sleep on my lap any more. She prefers to be with the other ferrets in a hammock or sleep sack. She loves toys and treats and tunnels just like any other ferret that's been in our home. In a way, it's sad. Oh, Chin Soon is clearly bonded to me and is a real sweetheart with me and loves to play with people and ferrets. She just made other friends, ferret friends, and doesn't want to stay with me and play with me all the time any more. Oh well...

Chin Soon is pretty much high energy all the time she's awake but since mid 2006 she's been just like Pertwee, the most insane ferret I ever had, in one way. If I want to calm her down I put Chin Soon up on my shoulder and walk around. She just loves taking in the world that way and doesn't try to jump off at all.

Oh, and no, I don't know what Chin Soon's name means. You'd have to ask her previous owners. It's Korean, or so I'm told. I just know that Chin Soon knows her name and responds to it so I'm not about to try and change it.

-Last updated September, 2006

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