From:
Judi Duvall
Date: 2002-05-23 04:35:00 UTC
Subject: Peanut crossed the Rainbow Bridge
I recognize many on this list from the FML, to which we subscribed when we
adopted Peanut 6 years ago. He was a feisty little guy and developed into
the most loving ferret, smothering us with kisses after a hard day at work.
He survived emergency adrenal surgery last year and through the heroic
efforts of our fantastic vet, survived a system shutdown 24 hours after
surgery. We were graced with an addition 13 months of love. About 12 days
ago I noticed that he was not eating his hard kibble and seemed a bit
lethargic. We had tried to get hold of our vet but it was a weekend and the
emergency clinic did not have anyone on staff that routinely handled
ferrets. This is when I sought out this mailing list and re-joined, looking
for answers, as we learned so much from everyone when we first brought
Peanut home all those years ago.
I put him on a liquid diet of chicken baby food, purified water and softened
kibble which he ate with vigor. He seemed to perk up a bit over the next
few days and I continued that regimen. But by last weekend, he just seemed
to be fading. Monday night, he ate and gave us our ferret loves but it was
an effort for him. Don took him to the vet Tuesday morning and he was found
to have a mass the size of a walnut with other smaller tumors that were
palpable. We had to make the hard decision to let him go because we could
tell he was ready. He was hiding from the light and just laying in our
arms, content to let us love on him. Our vet had consulted with the
surgical specialists and their determination was that there was a 90% chance
that he would not survive the surgery and we didn't want to subject him to
that additional pain. If we had taken him in prior to uesday, I think that
we would have been denied the time to say goodbye. He was allowed to pass
with dignity, with minimal pain, and with his people holding and loving him
as he went over. We are having him cremated and are looking for a special
statue to hold his ashes. Any suggestions can be emailed to me privately.
P.S. We have been victims of ferret math.. we have a sable brother and
sister who are 2 years old and an adopted (from another family) silver tip
little girl, all of whom are gentle and loving. They have helped us deal
with our loss. They seem to understand that one of their crew is missing.
Judi Duvall