Cassie the Cassinator

Cassie has become known as the Cassinator. I never expected what has come to surface. She has a bad biting problem and sometimes just lunges at you and takes a chunk and other times she runs by bites and keeps going (we call this a drive by biting.) We are making some headway with her but today I have the blues from working with her. We were having a nice play session and when she would come after my arm a "no bite" was sufficient and play would continue. Well as I said things were going well when all of a sudden that switch went off in her head and she lunged at me and bit and bit and bit. I would scruff, drag say no bite and release and she would come back with a vengeance. I finally did a scruff and drag turned out the light and left her in her cage in the dark. A long time out...... I felt so depressed, not because I feel like I am failing at teaching her not to bite..... hell I expect it to take a while, Tauvi was a good 6 to 8 months..... I got depressed because I was trying to imagine what happened to her to put the anger in her. What is the motion or action that makes that switch flip and get the rage going? Are there that many cruel people out there, or is it just ignorance at purchasing a pet we know nothing about? I have seen Cassies sweet gentle side....... kisses galore, happy weasel war dancing .... tug of war and falling asleep in my arms. But she has another side and we can't figure out what trips it. It makes me cry when she gets like that. What did someone do to her? What horrible things can cause so much anger or fear in such a small creature? And then this leads me to think of all the other ferrets that are mistreated, neglected and dumped. Are we as a human race that cruel? Are those of us that have compassion for animals and other humans a dying breed? I know that when we adopt animals from shelters there are always ones that are damaged goods...... Tauvi was damaged and in many ways still is. She will bite strangers and and strange loud noises will still sometimes startle her and send her into the shakes. I am sure Cassie will be the same. I can only hope that one day she can dump the old suitcases filled with fear and replace the contents with the hugs and kisses that we constantly shower her with.