Hi, I thought you might like this true story about how a computer and loving people can make the difference in the world and a small ferret very happy. If you wish to publish this please feel free to correct my English.
Sincerely Stephenie Baas

Tiberius On Wheels

Tiberius is a ferret that has not always had it easy. Despite this he has a love of life that is too be admired. In 2002 at the age of 4, he and his brother Nobby came to us through the re homing list from Stichting De Fret, (Netherlands) Nobby was an easygoing ferret who loved to be cuddled. Tiberius on the other hand is an inbred ferret with hip dislocation an overbite and an abnormally long tong. His preference was sleeping in the litter box, he was also a biter, he would bite any wrist he was able to get hold of.

It didn’t take to long to stop him from sleeping in the litter box and he has since also stopped biting.

Last Christmas things went wrong for Nobby, while their Christmas presents waited under the Christmas tree we rushes Nobby to the emergency vet, Nobby had leukemia and all we could do for him was to let him go. We took him home and let Tiberius see him so that he wouldn’t keep on looking for his brother. When Tiberius saw Noddys body he became very upset, he got diarrhea, slept all the time and when awake all he wanted to do was cuddle, something he had until now, never done. We were very worried about Tiberius and knew we needed to find him a new friend as soon as possible if he was going to survive.

We found Minou through “Stichting De Fret,” she was missing a few toes and her tail is much to short but that didn’t matter to us, within a few weeks they became the best of friend, but 3 months later something was wrong with Tiberius.

When (my partner) Ronald let the ferrets out of their sleeping cage in the morning, Tiberius could no longer walk. He dragged his back legs and could not hold his bowls. Ronald rang me at work and in panic I drove home at once. I though, “not again, not another one to put to sleep” We raced him to the vet where he was examined from top to toe with advice from Hanneke Moorman from the clinic “Brouwerhuis” But no one could discover what was wrong with him. Tiberius was getting signals through to his back legs but he could not stand on them.

We took him home for the weekend, to say goodbye and just to spend a few more days with him, the best thing for him would be to let him be put to sleep at home.

When we got home and Tiberius saw little Manou again, he was so happy that we decided not to have him put to sleep. We wanted to find a solution for his problem and we were more than prepared to adjust ourselves for him as long as he was happy.

Thankfully a ferret day was being organized at the beginning of April, I wanted to go and meet people, maybe meet someone who had the same problem and with the hope that maybe they could give me some help and advices. That’s how I met Stephenie the chairwomen for “Stichting De Fret” She immediately asked, have you though of wheels? That’s when Stephanie’s search began on Internet. In the meantime we tried to make a cart for Tiberius from toys, this was not a success so our hope was now focused on Stephenie.

Thanks to the help of people on the ferret Mailing list, she found someone in America who made wheels for ferrets. We had to measure Tiberius, which is not easy with a half paralyzed ferret, the measurements were mailed and after a short while we got the message that his wheels (cart) were ready. On the 29th of May we went to pick them up at Stephenie’s home, we were very nervous, what if Tiberius would not accept them, then all the time and trouble that people had put into this would be for nothing. But we need not have been so worried, once Tiberius was strapped into the cart he took off like a rocket, the name Ferret Flyer, as the cart is named does its name credit

Now he shoots through the house and we sometimes have trouble keeping up with him, we think it’s wonderful that he was given this chance. We also hope that in the future more ferrets will have the chance to enjoy life on the Ferret Flyer Cart. Some people might find this stupid, (especially people without pets) But we see how happy Tiberius is now that he gets around better, and that’s what’s important to us.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank some people. Naturally Stephenie Baas who put a lot of time into finding a solution, And especially the makers of the Ferret Flyer, Robert and Donna Morgaven, Who opened a whole new world for a ferret on the other side of the continent!

Thank you from Tiberius, Xandra and Ronald
Translation Stephenie Baas