About 4 this morning, our beloved Chook gave his last breath on his
daddy's chest... Chook, our little boy, finally succumbed to whatever it
was that ailed him.
 
Chook was our last ferret from what I refer to as Batch #2.  You see,
hubby and I have lived with ferrets for over 16 years... When I refer to
batches, I refer to a series of adoptions that happened all within a short
period of time... Chook was in the second batch, and was adopted from the
local humane society with his buddy Taero.  They had been abandoned and
left with a bag of food and a big bowl of water for two weeks, while his
owner skipped out on the rent, and apparently out of town.  Chook is the
only ferret that I have known to have a tattoo on his belly.
 
When coming up with names for our new boys, we chose Taero becausa he-a
tear-o around-o the room-o.  He would drive us to dizziness with his
endless chasing of a christmas ornament on a string.  He loved it.  Chook
was named after the chook, chook, chook sound he made.  For some reason
his name has always been hard to pronounce although it is very easy as it
rhymes with "look".
 
Chook had been going through health problems for over a couple of years
now... maybe even three.  The blood tests all came back normal, and
radiographs did not show anything.  He would bloat, and lose weight, eat
and then not eat... it was a continuous battle to keep him going.  But we
managed.  He just wasn't ready to go yet...
 
He was acting funny today... sleeping where he normally didn't, away from
the old girls he usually sleeps with.  He was coughing today... this was
new.  Hubby and I discussed taking him to the vet Friday... I got him his
fuzzy sleeping bag, and dad went to sleep while mom finished work on the
computer...
 
A few hours later, James came downstairs with an awful look on his face...
Chook was gone...
 
We sat and cried together as we held him this last time... in a few
hours Chook's body will be taken to the vet so that a necropsy can be
performed... we need to get an idea of what was truly going on inside
of him... Although we had been treating him for insulinoma, we knew
more was going on that he just wasn't telling us...
 
James did a lovely portrait of Chook last year... a beautiful tribute to
our now spiritual boy.  We are so thankful that we had him blessed, along
with the old girls at the Blessing of the Animals service that was two
Saturdays ago.  The local humane society had a hand in it, and a friend
let us know about it.  We quickly decided that bringing 18 was far too
many, so we decided on bringing only the oldsters... All four were
blessed... we are so happy and grateful this happened before he went
quietly today, and maybe that is part of the reason he went so
peacefully...
 
Chook, we love you honey... thank you for the extra time you gave us to
be with you... Your light will forever shine in our hearts.
 
love and hugs
betty and james and their blur o'fur
for the love of ferrets
missing Chook
 
As an update... Chook turned out to have a number of things wrong with him
besides his insulinoma, including an enlarged heart (cardiomyopathy), an
irregular shaped liver with a large, nasty, golf-ball sized tumor, growing
off of it, and an enlarged right adrenal that was inoperable.  Had we
taken him in for an exploratory, chances are that he would not have
survived, and if he had, we may have been forced to let him go on the
table.  I am glad to know that he is finally at peace...
 
Time to run and play Shuffles... we shall meet again one day.... B
[Posted in FML issue 3569]