Dear Muldoone,

On October 28th, my husband and I had to send one of our babies to the
bridge. We knew that Willie would be going soon, as he had lymphoma.
The vet said in May that it was only a matter of time, and gave him
anywhere from six weeks to six months, depending on how his little body
reacted to the meds. It hurt to hear that, but we cherished each extra
day we had with him as the blessing that it was.

On that Saturday afternoon, Willie got up from a nap and came out into
the hallway. He usually did this, to check on his humans and his ferret
buddies, and see if any treats were being handed out. This day was a
little different, though. He slowly made his way down the hall, and
carefully stepped into the puddle of bright sunshine coming through the
skylight, so I could see how yellow his skin had just turned. Then, he
looked me right in the eye, and said "It's time, Mommy. My body doesn't
work anymore. Please let me go to the bridge, now before it starts to
hurt." Then he laid flat on the floor and waited.

I did the only thing that I could do. I went and told Andy (my husband)
what Willie had told me. We took turns cuddling Willie one last time,
then got in the car and left for the vet. On the ride there, Willie
just curled up in my lap and let me pet him. We stayed with him until
the very end, and a bit longer, so we could see to drive again. Even
though it was the right thing to do, it hurt so bad!

Muldoone- you will find a good friend in this guy. We often called him
"trouble's shadow", because, even though he never seemed to be the one
starting the mischief, he was always there to help with it. And he
loves flannel (wink, wink).

There will be a lot of ferts there to meet him, but his closest buddies
Woody and Stanley will probably be the ones he looks for first. Then
Kayla, Chloe, Princess, and Kitten will want to greet him too.

Please remind him of how much we love him. And tell him to send ferrety
kisses when he remembers us.

Thanks, Ingrid and Andy Heckt

[Posted in FML 5421]