my beloved Tisha was killed in a freak accident

Question
My beloved Tisha, was killed a week ago today. It unfortunately was somthing I witnessed and her brother heard. I have given him extra love and attention. I constantly talk to him of Tisha. My question I'd I went and bought a baby kit, nine weeks old 3 days ago.  Because of my concern for his lonlyness. I do have much guilt over this. I did bring Gomez with me to help pick out his new friend. I have introduced them,at first Gomez ignored nixx, now I have noticed he s aknowled him. However, when he does play with nixx, he will bite the scruff of his neck and drag him around. Is this Gomez being agressive? Or just to show nixx whose the boss? I only bought the new kit,to help both of us heal.not to replace Tisha. I can't stand the thought of losing Gomez too. They are my world, my babies!

Answer
HI Elizabeth, Gomez ad baby Nixx:

I'm so very sorry to hear about Tisha and I do understand how horribly upsetting a traumatic death can be, especially when you witness it and when you know your baby heard it too. Bless your heart. If it helps any, I've been there, done that and it broke my heart too and I DO understand the pain you are in because I have been there.

It is very NORMAL for the dominant ferret to drag the new kid around to show him who is boss - he must establish his dominance (normal in the animal world) and will begin to do it as soon as they are given any time at all alone together.  The ONLY TIME you should interfere with this is 1: if the baby actually POOPS while being attacked (means he is truly scared and needs to be rescued) and 2: if you see blood (which means they are not playing, they are truly fighting.  

Ferrets will fight HARD - so hard that you think they are killing each other, but if you don't see poop or blood, DO NOT interfere.  Another way to check and be SURE your little one is NOT being traumatized is to remove him from Gomez's grasp and put him approximately 2-3 feet away. Does the baby RUN AWAY from Gomez, OR does he go either towards him or seem to just go about his business unaware of Gomez??  If he runs away, he is truly scared of Gomez and the two need to have some time apart.  If he either ignores Gomez or goes back towards him for another round of wrestling, no matter how rough, he is just participating in rough ferret play.

Hopefully that will clarify playing vs fighting so you can rest at ease while you watch the two of them.

Please visit http://www.petloss.com and read the Rainbow Bridge Poem.  It would be nice IF you could write a little memorial for Tisha and submit it for next Monday Night's Candlelighting Ceremony when they honor ALL pets who have died during the week and people ALL OVER THE WORLD light candles and pray for the babies whose names have been submitted (Tisha's).  Hope you can get a chance to do that...if not this week, you can do it next week if time is too short. It MUST be turned in by Sunday morning if I remember correctly.

I can promise you that in time the memories of all the tiny details of the event will begin to fade.....my crisis when my baby died violently in my arms was over 10 years ago and I still cry for him and remember it all too well, but at least some of the details are beginning to fade. God bless, my friend.  Please know you are not alone. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

P.S....I think you did the right thing by getting Gomez a little buddy :-)

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers