Ferrets become rock of support of Yuma woman

Dusty Butters never bit before.
 
That thought crossed Jacquie Rodgers' mind one night recently after she was awakened by her 8-month-old male ferret chomping down on her toe and on her index finger.
 
What Dusty Butters - or Butters for short - was actually doing, Rodgers says now, was coming to the rescue of an owner he thought was in distress.
 
The Yuma woman, restricted to her bed because of a medical condition, had fallen asleep with her and her husband's newly acquired chihuahua puppy likewise asleep in the crook of her arm. And in her sleep, Rodgers had become tangled in the bed's side railing.
 
She figures Dusty Butters was biting her and pulling on her sleeping garb to rouse her before she fell to the floor - and took the pup down with her.
 
A minute later, Butters was back asleep. "It was like no big deal to him - problem solved."
 
Add another chapter to Rodgers' saga of ferret adventures - or what owners of more traditional pets like dogs and cats might call misadventures.
 
"There's always something going on their minds," said Rodgers, who's owned five of them over the years. "They're the most interesting pets I've ever had. They're fuzzy little people."
 
That could be explanation for why Dusty Butters does things like pull the plug out of her bathtub or make off with her TV remote control.
 
As health issues have restricted her to her bed for extended periods, Rodgers said the antics of her ferrets have made them her emotional pillars of support.
 
"My guys know my mood, and when I'm upset, they'll turn themselves inside out to make (me) laugh," she said. "They're everything for me."
 
But Rodgers found that for all their frivolity, ferrets are independent and like their space. Then she got Kylie, a female who was not only fun-loving but affectionate.
 
Rodgers recounted that when she went to bed at night, Kylie would climb up on her chest and go to sleep with her, chin to chin.
 
Kylie died last year, and Rodgers and her husband got Dusty Butters. That first night, he climbed up on top of her and rested his chin next to hers, just the way Kylie used to do.
 
"As a general rule, ferrets are not cuddly pets, but Butters came to me at a time when I needed a hug," she said.
 
But also like the ferrets before him, he can be something of a cutup, she said. Indeed, his antics might make him the subject of a funny pet tricks segment on late night TV talk shows.
 
Dusty Butters pushes and fetches a soccer ball. If he thinks Rodgers has been sleeping too long, he'll lick her closed eyelids to wake her up.
 
And if Dusty Butters thinks Rodgers is paying too much attention to television and not enough to him, he'll hide her remote control. He'll return it on demand, she says, but not without a pout.
 
Rodgers isn't sure why he pulls the plug out of the bathtub - unless, she ventures, he thinks she should shower more and bathe less.
 
Today Dusty Butters shares the house with one other ferret, 7-year-old Gilbert, and, of course, the young chihuahua. Dusty Butters has warmed up to the dog, Rodgers said, although the feeling is not quite mutual.
 
That night when Rodgers was sliding through the bed rail in her sleep, Dusty Butters came to the rescue more out of concern for the puppy than her, she believes.
 
"He was watching out for the baby - or what we call the baby. He was taking a stance for another animal. I'd never seen that before."