We lost another of our old timer ferrets; my precious Derby left us
for the Rainbow Bridge this Tuesday.

We had had Derby not quite 4 years. She came to us from Columbus Ohio
with 2 other ferrets and there were a total of 3 people involved in
their transport. It was the weekend of the KY Derby when we got them;
that was how Derby got her name.

Out of the 3, Derby was in the worst shape, she was very adrenal. We
got her adrenal surgery for her, she also had to have her spleen
removed and a dark spot on her liver was biopsied and it came back
benign, just some pigmentation for whatever reason. She had to stay at
the vet hospital for 3 days before we could bring her home. I was upset
at the fact the vet hospital wouldn't let me leave anything from home
with her, none of her bedding, or a piece of my clothing with a
familiar scent on it. The vet hospital said when people left things
with their ferrets, items often got lost and I told them I didn't care,
I wanted her to have something familiar from home but they said no, the
post-op cages needed to be as uncluttered as possible. We were Derby's
5th home and I kept worrying about what was going through her little
mind; was she wondering where we were and wondering if she had been
dumped again. I called every morning and every evening to check on her
but of course Derby had no way of knowing that.

We brought her home and she had to be force fed and forced water for
10 days, I had my doubts she would make it but she did. During her
recovery period, I guess that is when I got into spoiling her so much
and by the time she was over her surgery and had a new lush coat she
was spoiled rotten. That summer I was in the hospital for a few days
and John said she would go all over the house looking for me. She
managed to get into our closet and she got ahold of a pair of my
slippers; I wore ballerina slippers under my dress when John and I got
married and Derby fell in love with my slippers, he said she carried
them all over the house with her, she would come into the kitchen, lay
them down long enough to get a drink or a bite or two of food and then
off she would go with them. I didn't have the heart to take them away
from her and they were hers to keep.

I guess about that time I began making eggs for our ferrets and Derby
loved em, God how she loved those eggs. She would move them around to
different places in the house and she would stand guard over them, she
would not let other ferrets get near her precious eggs. One of her
favorite places to stash them was under my dresser, she would work and
work every day getting her eggs moved, I can see her running down the
hall with one taking it to be stashed with the others. She also liked
to nab dirty socks and stash them under the dresser with the eggs.

Derby has always been very sassy and I guess that was my fault. She was
so sad when she came here, she seemed to have no confidence and I would
make over her, tell her how beautiful she was and give her extra
special treatment and she seemed to thrive on that and in no time we
had a little furry prima donna on our hands. I would be busy doing
something and not know she was within a mile of me and I would feel a
chomp on my bare foot and look down and there was Derby wanting to be
picked up and loved and when she went chomp on your foot, she really
went CHOMP, it was like you were suppose to be petting her for at
least 5 minutes before she thought about it.

She had her days when she didn't want anyone behind the entertainment
center with her, that is one of the ferret's favorite places to sleep
since they are locked out of our bedroom with John sleeping days. All
that space back there and Derby would decide it was going to be all
hers for the day and she would yell and fuss and carry on if anyone
went back there, well anyone but Cody; she loved Cody, he was her
feller.

When we noticed she was loosing hair again and she was diagnoised
right-sided adrenal, we knew Derbs was too old for surgery so she was
started on the melantonin implants.

Derby went right on, chugging away each day, she had a lot of slow
days and then she had her days when she was kicking butt and asking
questions later. This past Sunday, John had to get after her and Ollie
for scrapping; Ollie was in a hammy and Derby wanted it and Ollie was
not about to get out of it and let Derby have it. Derby could be a huge
pain in the butt with her prima donna routine; she was spoiled rotten,
bossy, and sassy as could be, she was old, we had been through a lot
with her and she deserved to be spoiled and treated like a queen or
I thought she did. These old fuzzies that have been drug around from
pillow to post and never really had a home they could call their own or
a person they could count on, those are the ones I reach out to, those
are the ones I will take in an instant and try to cram a whole lifetime
of love into just a few short years.

God I miss her so much already. That sweet little face, bright button
eyes, sassy disposition, she was my Derby and I don't think I could
ever find another old ferret with the same spunk as she had. She had
arthritis in her back legs and some days she ran and walked like an
arthritic duck for lack of a better description, I can see her dashing
off with another egg to go stash. All I can say is, if there are other
ferrets at the Rainbow Bridge who brought eggs from home, they better
not let Derby know they got em, she will be stealing em. I always
thought of Derby as a lady that was at one time was very regal and
beautiful. I bet when Derby was younger she was very spunky and if
she had worn a hat, she would have stuck purple flowers in it.

If you ever have the opportunity to give a home to an oldster, don't
pass it up. These old ferrets ask for so little and they give back so
much. All the hurt of loosing Maggie and now Derby, I would still do it
all over again in an instant. That slow steady love they have for you,
it is something very special.

Someone suggested to me this evening, I should name my eggs for Derby
in her honor; I got the first one on Ebay and then I began making them.
I had to keep all the new eggs under lock and key, as far as Derby was
concerned, every egg mom made was for HER. A couple of times she did
manage to get into the eggs and she worked until she had claimed them
all and moved them to her hidey-hole.

She went as the vet predicted she would; he told me more than likely I
would get up one morning and find her gone and that is exactly how it
went. She was in her hammy, not a hair out of place, eyes and mouth
closed, a very peaceful expression on her precious little face. I am
grateful for the gentle release of her little spirit but I regret I was
to with her when she went. The evening before she passed, she was out
and about, being sassy with the other ferrets, moving her eggs, doing
her thing. She came over to me once while I was sitting on the couch
watching a movie and I scooped her up, snuggled and loved on her, told
her how beautiful she was and how much I loved her. She got squirmy and
I put her down and off she went. Later I tucked her in with Cody her
best buddy and then she was gone.

I love you and miss you BabyGirl, I just wish we had had more time,
like maybe another 20 years or more.

[Posted in FML 5442]