#44. Ferrets: In Loving Memory of my Ferret Mentor “Zoo”

I am writing this post to honor the memory of a sweet dear friend Cathy Strobach, best known as “Zoo.” She left this world on Dec 6th 2024, leaving so many to miss her. She always made you feel welcome & she taught me so much about ferrets. She ran a Sanctuary for ferrets out of her home with many ferrets in her care & many of them in need of her special care. Some had health issues & she administered medications & had an awesome Vet who was very experienced in Ferret care. She gave so unselfishly to the care of these sweet & funny animals & to her friends & volunteers (pretty much anyone she met). Her husband is currently running the sanctuary with the help of volunteers. Whenever I visited Zoo she always made me feel so special & she always made me sit for a bit before or after we cleaned cages, & cared for the ferrets. Always while a certain ferret group had playtime out of their cages in the ferret safe rooms. Ferrets don’t always get along with every other ferret, some can be bossy or don’t play well with some ferrets. Even when Zoo had 75+ ferrets she always knew the name of each one. I’d pick one up & say “who is this” she always knew who was who. She knew which ferrets could play in which groups also. She taught me so much about ferret care & it will take me a few posts to cover all the ferret info I have to share with you. This post is to honor the memory of Zoo, so future posts will cover Ferret care.

The above photo was from when Zoo was in Ferret USA magazine in 2011″Who’s who in the Ferret World” (I still have my copy). My first experience with a ferret was as a child, I’d guess around 11 yrs old. I was outside our home (which was built above my fathers’ business)with my sister Linda & I saw some critter run across the street to our property. Linda didn’t see it & didn’t believe me till it ran past & behind her & into the shop where my dad & cousin were working with a bunch of lumber to build a large shed on the property. I ran in & said something to me dad about the animal & a moment later it popped up between some wood. It was a sable color & so cute, but we had no clue what it was. We shut the overhead door & my dad & cousin made us move away & they got on welding gloves & proceeded to catch this “mystery” animal. They caught it & for a “cage” they used a metal long bin of some type(4 x 2 feet) & put metal grates like from a grill on the top to keep the animal in. I ran upstairs & got an encyclopedia & started to try & figure out what it was, there was no internet or Google to search back then. Once we knew it was a ferret we knew it was a pet as ferrets have never been a wild animal. The books & websites don’t agree on what they are exactly a cross of, but agree they were never wild (domestically bred). My dad checked the lost & found ads in the papers for the next few days & his owners ran an ad. The ferret had been on their front enclosed porch playing with their cat & they thought it was secure. Well ferrets are extremely curious & it found the mail slot & crawled out & made it to our home which was about 2 blocks away. I am glad no other animal found him & he was safe.

My first experience as an adult was thru fostering, I was asked by the rescue I was with at that time if I would take in a rabbit from a kill shelter that was a holding place, but did not adopt pets out. I said OK, & when I picked up the rabbit they had a ferret there as well & someone asked me to take it & it was so cute I couldn’t say no. I am a big researcher so I researched its care & Buttons launched me into a love for ferrets.

The two above were Ginger & Spice whom I fostered & adopted. I adopted several others over those years (think at least 6 of my own). Over about a 2-3 year period with that rescue I fostered many ferrets & started a caged pet division for that rescue. I had a handful of ferrets that were permanent fosters & never were able to be adopted due to medical issues. When I first started fostering ferrets is when I found & met Zoo (Zoo’s Ferret Sanctuary in Kirkland IL) she was under 2 hours from me so I contacted Zoo, went out to her place, volunteered, learned & was on the board of the Sanctuary for a few years at least. Zoo taught me a very special thing that was not easy, nor did I think I could do it. A ferret of mine (a permanent foster) was at the end of life & she told me I owed it to him to be there & to hold him as he went over the “Rainbow Bridge.” Honestly I had a fear of touching an animal (or human) that had passed away. She said they deserve to pass with love & to feel it physically as well as emotionally. She taught me a wonderful but hard lesson & it has helped me to help other animals that have been in my life & now have also gone over the “Rainbow Bridge.” Zoo had such much compassion & love & she would make you smile & laugh & oh what a wonderful joyful laugh she had. She is greatly missed & it was hard not to cry as I typed this.

I want to honor her memory & if you have a ferret or had them, or just love them & would like to contribute to the Ferret Sanctuary please visit http://www.zoosferretsantuary.org to see the ways to give or you can mail to: Zoo’s ferret Sanctuary PO Box 310 Kirkland IL 60146 . The ferrets at the sanctuary do not get adopted out, but live their lives out at the sanctuary. I do not believe they are taking in ferrets. Kurt is still grieving the loss of his beloved wife of many years, & continuing the care for the ferrets at the sanctuary.

I will be doing a series on ferret care soon, if this is a topic you want to see me do sooner please comment or contact me via email & let me know. I have a variety of topics I plan to write about, but knowing what interests my readers is important to me. If you are enjoying my posts on my blog please consider subscribing, you won’t get spam, just an alert when I publish a new post. Subscribing, commenting, liking & visiting often all help my posts to be seen by more people, it helps get my website seen on Google & Bing. Thank you, Debbie echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com