I had to have Buddy put to sleep this summer.  I came home from work to
find him having a seizure.  I immediately scooped him up and got him to
the vets within a few minutes, but he was in real bad shape.  They had a
really hard time getting the seizure to stop, but we know that it had
lasted quite awhile and made the decision to put him to sleep.  He had
never shown any signs of being sick, so it was quite a shock.  I got him
from a man who had found him running around in a trailer park.  He had a
couple of big dogs, and a very young child, so he posted at my vets
office for a home for the little guy.  Buddy was the official greeter in
my home.  He immediately became friends with any new ferrets brought into
the home.  He helped Missy learn to play with other ferrets, as she had
always been an only ferret.  Only 4 ferrets left in that cage.
 
I had been on vacation for a couple of weeks in November and my best
friend was taking care of my ferrets.  Her favorite was my P-Bear.  A
big husky DEW who was deaf and never learned how to get along with any
other ferrets, so unfortunately he was housed by himself since his only
ferret friend ever, Oliver died a couple of years ago.  My friend spoiled
him rotten and he got all kinds of extra attention while she looked after
my critters.  One week after returning home, I came home to find him
passed on.  His front paws were sticking out of the cage and because he
was deaf, I always had to shake his cage or pet him to wake him up, so I
tried to push his paws back into the cage and he was stiff & cold.  He
had a habit of playing "dead ferret" and scared me so many times - you
could do anything to him before he'd wake up, but this was very, very
different, and I knew that he had truly passed on.  It's been very tough
because P-Bear had such a strong ferret personality and I adored him, as
did many of my friends.  His true name was Polar Bear because he looked
like one, really.  He was a biter, but he never bit people who weren't
afraid of him - you had to handle him with confidence.  He was my
favorite (sorry everybody, but it's the truth) and I'm really bummed
out.  NEVER sick a day in his life - 1 month short of 9 years old.
 
It's been a tough pet year, my 17 year old cat, Tigger, was put to sleep
from renal failure in April.  Another cat, Jake, put to sleep in May from
an autoimmune disorder.  Buddy in June and now P-Bear in November.  I've
got two ferrets who are estimated to be 7-8 years old, another 6 year
old, and the last one 5 years old (but with some health issues).
 
Sandee, can you check on all my kiddos please.  I miss them terribly and
would like to hear that they are at peace now.  Thank you.
[Posted in FML issue 4723]