In November of 1999 my wife and I answered an ad in the paper.
 
We found two females one a sable {Roxanne} with blindness in left eye
(cat really didn't wanna play) and the other a albino {Cyrano} with the
frizziest hair I've ever seen (found out she had been given a peroxide
bath to get rid of the yellow hair
 
we also found out that she had the name cyrano because the vet pronounced
her a him ( also pronounced cedar chips the preferred litter etc..  we
don't use him - ever.)
 
They came home with us.  They both fit right in with the other eight.
there were the usual contests and everyone settled in comfortably to life
in the little house.
 
Now Cyrano has two endearing traits I'd like to tell you about.  The first
one, she would walk (tiptoe) up behind any male ferret (except Tsunami) and
bop him in the back of the head then she would run three or four steps and
check to see if they were following her.  She would repeat the bop until
they chased her down and she whipped their furry butt.  (Tsunami weighed
about three lb..  four to six oz..  after she took her four steps and
looked back over her shoulder all she saw was his big belly coming straight
at her.  The look on her face was priceless.  You could almost hear her say
OH S***!  She weighed two lb.. at the time)
 
The second whenever she would be let out she would go to all the water
dishes around the house sniff the water then she would look at you as if
to say "This isn't fresh, get fresh water in this dish." then she would
sit at that dish until you put fresh water in it.  Then she would go on
to the next dish.
 
she was taking prednisone b.i.d. to get her strength up for pancreas
surgery.
 
On 22/Dec/00 she collapsed, kept her jaws shut would not open them even
for nutri-stat (her favorite treat).  Immediate vet visit very low glucose
level also got sub-q dextrose scheduled surgery for the 28/Dec/00.  She
came out from the anesthesia well, after a few hours she perked up even
more by the next day she was trying to open doors again (One thing she
Could Not Stand was a closed door).  On 02/Jan/01 she woke me at noon (I
work seconds) with a sound I've never heard a ferret make.
 
By the time I had awakened fully i already had the cage door open (medium
dog carrier /recovery area).  She was stiff as a board, barely breathing,
very slow heart rate ,jaws locked, excess saliva.  The vet is an hour away,
i called so he would be ready (I made it in slightly less time than that).
Again she received sub-q fluids.  eeg showed extremely slow heart rate
atropine injection (times two) helped slightly At this point she was in
a "coma".  The Dr. worked on her the rest of the day to stabilize her
nothing seamed to take.  Took her home since no one would be at his
office overnight.  03/Jan/01 back at Dr.'s office.  He was really
suprised/concerned that she never woke up, wouldn't drink, wouldn't eat
duck soup (her second favorite treat) wasn't moving except for spasms and
had very labored breathing.  He first put her on oxygen glucose was 24
heart rate was 48 atropine twice did nothing to improve breathing became
progressively more labored heart beat more erratic sometimes stopping
altogether spasms became progressively more intense.  It was time.  At
11:20 A.M.  on the third day of January 2001 Cyrano passed on in my arms
from a L.D. of Phenobarbital.
 
The gross autopsy showed that
     the liver was a tumor
     the duodenum also had a tumor on it
     the pancreas had more tumors in it (four were removed)
     the heart was several sizes larger than it should be
     the spleen was very enlarged
     one of the adrenals was gone
 
We will get the results of the lab work back some time next week
 
Please forgive spelling grammar syntax etc....the monitors blurry for
some reason probably need a new one
 
--
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly... it would be strange
indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
-Thomas Paine
[Posted in FML issue 3289]