It just occurred to me that I don't know that I ever emailed everyone
about Benjamin.  He was a ferret dumped at the Worcester Animal Rescue
League by someone who allegedly took him from her aging mom b/c the mom
could no longer care for him and just wanted him put down b/c she didn't
want to deal with him.  He had been eating cat food for a long time
apparently.  He looked adrenal when he came to me (Donna Spirito very
kindly picked him up rfom WARL and transferred him to me), and he indeed
was, but I found a home for him willing to handle that.  I ended up
keeping him myself, despite my poor finances, because his first home fell
through and then he was diagnosed with lymphoma.  It took him pretty
quickly-he crashed hard over the course of a couple of weeks, and didn't
even stabilize enough on pred to have an exploratory or start chemo.  He
was such a sweet little man, and I couldn't bear to send him off, with
such a short time to live, to someone who may not end up keeping him, or
to pass him off to a shelter who already had a ton of sick babies.  He
died in April.

I loved him very much in his short stay with us, and I miss him.  He
wasn't here long, but he was so playful and sweet and gentle until he
started getting really sick... He was still gentle and sweet then, but
had a harder time getting around.  My favorite memory of him is one
night he was standing about five feet away from my husband-both of them
were just standing there, not doing anything.  All of a sudden, out of
nowhere, Benjamin went bounding up to Shawn and lept at his knees to
entice him to play.  And Shawn did... What a sweet, happy little ferret.
He died in my arms the night we decided not to let him suffer anymore-we
were going to send him to the Bridge the next morning; I guess he know
that I was giving him permission to go, though I didn't really want him
to...

Thought I'd let you know.  My little Gentle Ben.  Thanks to everyone who
helped him and to those who tried to offer him a home, even if they
ultimately couldn't take him.

Best,
April
[Posted in FML issue 5272]