She left us this afternoon after a brief bout with lymphosarcoma, which
was only diagnosed on Christmas eve.  She also had insulinoma and a right
adrenal tumor, but those were slowing her down only about as much as
being 7.5.
 
She was a sweet and happy girl up to the end.  Only yesterday she took a
stroll across the floor to climb into her favorite box and bat two ping
pong balls for a few minutes before she went in search of the krinkle sack
to sleep in.  Last night I put on soft music and held her for a long time
because her breathing was becoming labored and she whimpered a little.
She was also becoming incontinent, which upset her a lot.  She was our
only weasel who would tear through the house at 20 mph to get to a litter
pan.  Today she was barely alert and obviously in pain and having trouble
breathing.  I made sure she was comfortable with her life-long friend
Sabine sleeping next to her.
 
Eloise and Sabine were our first two ferrets, ordered from a pet store
owner in Bryn Mawr who served as middle-man for a local breeder.  Rebecca
chose their names before we got them.  The prettier one would be Sabine
(after the Griffin and Sabine books) and the mischievous one would be
Eloise, like the bad little girl who lives at the Plaza.  We always
thought hers was the most perfect name for a bad little ferret girl.
 
Eloise was never a cuddler, but she was the best kisser and probably the
smartest ferret we have known.  She climbed like a monkey, leapt like
flying squirrel, and seemed to understand everything we wanted (or didn't
want).  She was a skinny little whippet with a pretty face and a love of
life.  When Sabine's diabetes grew so bad she began to sleep all the time,
Eloise stopped sleeping up on the third level of their cage and began to
keep the Bean company in the new bed we'd made up on the bottom level
where Sabine could reach everything easily.  We were worried about how
depressed Eloise would be when Sabine died, but suddenly she has gone
first.
 
This evening we buried her under the yellow rose bushes, where she sleeps
with Bizzy, Baby and Esme', the three old ladies we had adopted later on,
and Kermit, my dear Mr. Man who died unexpectedly this summer on the day
I was finally recovered enough from surgery to play with the ferrets.  St.
Francis stands nearby.
 
--
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  Judith White <[log in to unmask]>
 
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http://www.geocities.com/kourifanclub/SOS.html
[Posted in FML issue 3658]