Ash, Gustave, and Oscar. The Three Muskateers?
- arctic_viper
- Oct 30, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 31, 2021
Who exactly is Ash, Gustave, and Oscar? Are they people? or maybe Animals? As some of you may already know, Ash is my 4-month-old kitten who made a small appearance in my “What’s It Like Living alone?” blog. Gustave and Oscar, on the other hand, are my ferrets that are 2 years and 2 ½ years old, respectively, and they’re the new additions to the family! With that said, let’s get into a quick background of who each of them is!!
Who is Ash?
Ash has been with me since the moment she was born (basically). One day, while I was doing an internship at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Ontario, I noticed that there were a bunch of small little kittens cuddling up next to the mother in a box at the house I was staying at. It was so sudden, and I’ve never seen a cat be so small and vulnerable until that moment. But anyhow, the mother had 8 kittens in her litter, and they were all so different! Some were white with spots, while others were a strong orange colour! But one thing that was the same for all of them, was that none of them could even move, which is obvious since they were a maximum of 1 week old at the time? Anyways, this is what made me want one of them, but I didn’t really know which one I wanted until they started to grow a little more and show some more of their individual personalities.
What made me choose Ash then? Well, the main reason why I chose Ash, was because she had a much duller colouration compared to all the other kittens in the litter and because she always looked sad and depressed! Not to mention, she was the smallest one too aha. But all that really made me want to love her more and care for her so that she looks, and is, happier! Of course, at the time I didn’t really think about how she will be when she grows up. Would she be aggressive? Or so shy that she’d always hide somewhere? I also didn’t think about how she would be around other cats! All I did think about was that I needed to have her and that no matter how she grew up to be, I’d still love her anyway.
Also, being able to see her grow up from such a small kitten at ~1 week old, to 4 months has really made me connect with her on a level at which I didn’t think was really possible. Ash is one of many reasons why I am happier than I was before, and she is always there for me. Of course, sometimes she’s a little shit disturber (excuse the language) like she’ll attack my face at 6 am so that I wake up and play with her. Or at 11 pm she’ll start sprinting all over the apartment playing with any and everything she sees! But, hey, this is also what makes her so amazing.
Oh, I guess you’re also wondering, how exactly she is now that she’s older. Ash is nowhere near what I expected her to be. It’s as though she did a complete 180-degree turn, personality-wise. She went from being shy to being super playful, loving, and cuddly! She always wants to be where I am, not one moment away from me. If I’m doing my assignments, she’s right there with me on my lap, sleeping or grooming herself. If I’m sleeping, BOOM, she’s at the base of the bed, or on the pillow next to me. The fact that she’s always there is amazing, and I find that it’s one of the many ways she shows her love for me. The other way is by slapping me apparently! As for her size, well, she is still fairly small, but in the right weight range for her age :D.
To make things better, she gets along with other animals and with children, which was actually a requirement from my mom when I proposed the idea of getting her. I mean, maybe not at the beginning, but with a bit of time she warms up to new animals. Such is the case with my cousin’s cat Leo-Winston. When I brought Ash back home for the first time, they didn’t get along at all really, but with little time, they both warmed up to one another, and now Leo acts like a “father” or I guess “older brother” towards Ash. He even grooms her sometimes which is adorable! Even better, my mom ended up getting Ash’s sister (Pumpkin) from one of the foster homes. Oddly enough though, Ash was super aggressive towards Pumpkin and was basically attacking her all the time! I tried to isolate them, but Pumpkin always came to visit Ash for some reason. But now, they get along very well and always play together! She even got along with Oscar and Gustave after about 1 day of interacting with them?
Oscar and Gustave, who are they?
Oscar and Gustave are the two new ferrets I recently adopted! I got them from another person who wasn’t able to take care of them as much as they would have liked, mainly because of their job situation since they weren’t able to let Gustave and Oscar play outside their cage for longer periods of time. But, because of that, I was able to adopt them and add them to my slowly growing list of pets!
Aren’t ferrets high maintenance, smell bad, and destroy things? Hmmmm, these are some of the questions in which many people may ask. Yes, ferrets can be high maintenance for some, I mean, it depends on the person, right? Some people may find taking care of a cat is high maintenance! But, in general, yes, they do require a lot of attention, both with playtime and cleaning wise. Additionally, they have a very specific diet requirement because they are strict carnivores. But those things aren’t really that bad, after all, Gustave and Oscar are really well behaved! They don’t bite, they're litter trained from the previous owners, making the cleaning aspect actually super simple, and I give them high-quality kitten food! As for their playtime, I never keep them locked inside their cage, instead, I gave them an entire room to play in 24/7. Not that they’re awake for that long anyway aha. Ferrets sleep 18h of the day, so when Oscar and Gustave are awake, they’re actually outside the room they have running all over the apartment, playing with my recycling, hiding all 100 toy balls they have under my drawer, or playing with Ash. Then, when they’re tired, they just waddle back to their hammocks and sleep again!
But enough of the technical stuff, so far, living with them is amazing, they don’t actually smell bad seeing as how my allergies block my sense of smell, and they’re so smart and curious it’s actually interesting. Especially Gustave, he loves to go into my couch and just sleep there, he’s also much more active than Oscar and it’s good that he plays with Ash! It helps them both get rid of all of that excess energy! Oscar on the other hand is so much more mellow and chill! He doesn’t really do anything crazy like Gustave, except for the fact that he will always, without fail, go straight to the recycling bin to play in it! It’s also really funny because he basically plays in the recycling, for like 30 minutes, get’s tired and goes to eat for what seems like an eternity, and then sleep!
Anyway, that’s the introduction for Ash, Gustave, and Oscar! Let me know if you’d like some more! Or if you have any enrichment ideas for them to play with, especially since ferrets get bored easily aha!
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