A woman at work called me one day, said she had an 'old' ferret that she
was thinking of selling.  I told her if he was old, I doubted that she'd
be able to sell him, but if she wanted him to have a good home, just
call me and I'd take him.  I didn't hear from her for a while, and then
mid-winter I had a message on our answering machine from her.  She wanted
to bring him over.  It was after 10pm when I got back to her, but she
brought him over.  She walked in with this beautiful champagne boy in her
arms, and he was licking from a bottle of Ferretone-his name was Chester.
I asked her what he ate and she said kitten food, but she didn't have
any.  We talked for a bit, and she kept saying she hoped he didn't die
on us.  After she left we let him down, and he checked out the place, but
he was very quiet.  The next day I thought we were losing him, he was so
down.  I was holding him and Larry said he thought it was massive
depression, and so did I.  We took him to the vet to have him checked,
but Chester acted fine, albeit quiet.  And so began the odyssey to bring
him out of his depression.  We discovered he didn't like other ferrets,
he'd jump and scream, and then we found out why.  One night Larry was
getting ready to put him up, came up behind him and reached down and
touched him.  Chester jumped, whirled around scared to death.  That's
when we found out he was deaf!  If I were working on schoolwork, at the
computer, or just sitting, he'd wander downstairs to me and lay his head
on my foot, a signal to pick him up.  I'd cradle him in my arms and he'd
fall asleep there.  When I moved him and was putting him up, he'd reach
up and kiss me, stick his nose in my ear.  Late April, early May, I was
coming home from class and called Larry to see how things were going.  He
told me Chester had had a major seizure.  Our daughter thought two of the
Crew was fighting, but when she got upstairs she found Chester thrashing
in a seizure.  She ran outside, got Larry, and he got Chester out of the
cage, but not before Chester had latched onto him without knowing it.  He
got pedia pred down him, and in about 20 minutes Chester had come around,
but was truly out of it.  We were going over to Julie Fossa's a few days
later, and we took him so she could check his blood sugar.  His levels
were way down, and so we upped his medicine.  A few weeks later we had
another fuzzy to the vet, and we took him out and had the vet check him.
His levels weren't any better, and so another increase.  On June 18 we
had exploratory surgery done for him, and he was full of tumors-pancreas,
spleen, kidneys.  One on his spleen was as big as my thumbnail.  My vet
and I talked, and he thought we could give him two to six months, and I
said we'd give him that.  He was doing fine, and on the 25th he was
playing in the tubes, and the green teddy bear they all play with went
bouncing across the room.  I was ecstatic.  Then on 26th his body weight
started to disappear, he was having trouble walking.  On the 27th he had
lost at least 50% of his body weight, and he couldn't walk, passed a
black tarry stool, and saw semi-comatose.  I held him that night on my
chest, and two of my cats blocked him so he wouldn't fall.  He started
to pant and I placed him beside me, made sure he was warm.  I found him
at 2am on the floor, and he'd messed himself.  I had to have our daughter
take him to the vet on the 28th, and he checked Chester over, and then
called me.  His vital signs were good, but he was stunned at the
paralysis of his hindquarters.  We both concurred that his quality of
life wasn't good, and he agreed with me to help him to the Bridge.
 
I know that Sandee has already found him at the Bridge, and that he's met
the Crew.  Chester was a special boy, and when he left, he took a piece
of all our hearts.  Have fun, Chester my Jester, and wait for me, along
with all the other members of the Crew.  You are truly missed.
 
Rebecca and the Crew of Merry Mayhem
[log in to unmask]
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy, and taste
 good with ketchup"
"Support bacteria, it's the only culture some people have"
[Posted in FML issue 4565]