Last night, company came over in the guise of friend, and then a neighbor.
Bed time was far beyond my norm.  This made the morning alarm particularly
offensive.  Rising early for Little in the bone chilling dark after so
little sleep was brutal for me.
 
I started off, as usual, with the immediate cleaning of papers, accidents,
and litter boxes.  Then I wash my hands, and pick up all the water and food
bowls, scrub, dry; refill.  Then it is time to heat up Bob C. chicken soup
and get Little's medicine ready.  I find him and hold him until all his
ready.  But not this morning.  He was in none of his usual haunts.
 
And so, I fed the others, scrubbed up their dishes, let the cat in, and
out and in.I Fed the little cat while petting her, as is her want.  Then
hurried to find Little again.  He was not to be found.
 
I washed up and got dressed, and pulled out dresser drawers, and looked
behind and under everything with a flashlight.  No Little.
 
I gobbled down breakfast and brushed my teeth.  I now-on hands and knees
with the flashlight, systematically looked under bed and futon and chairs,
and in all the boxes, under paper towels in the tub.  No Little.
 
My throat closed off a swallow and tears choked my eyes.  Little must have
gotten outside when my guests came over.  I opened the closet to put on my
coat and boots to try and find him..  Dead.  Frozen.  Tears fell down my
face.
 
And there, in the closet I do not remember leaving open the night before,
lay a small white body-limp, across a boot-too weak to move.  Too weak to
raise his head.
 
Had I not allowed the extra 30 minutes, I would have had to have left him?
I am responsible and own my own business.  People depend on me.  This
morning in particular.An emergency.  People from Japan.
 
Having just written how important those 30 minutes can be to care for a
ferret with insulinoma-here I am to tell you that in Little's progressing
cancer,and in the state of weakness I found him in-another 10 hours without
food and water would most likely have finished him.
 
How grateful I am I staggered out of bed early just for him this morning.
The pet sitter was able to feed him again in the afternoon and give him
more meds.  He actually walked quickly tonight from room to room after his
soup and meds!
 
And this is how 30 minutes saved the life of my little one.
 
Lisette
[Posted in FML issue 3287]