Tina is gone. She had a new mass in her chest and the lab report came
in on the tumors taken out on the 5th -- lymphoma. I am astonished at
how fast the new growth came and grew.

Poor little ferret. Just a little twisted-around bare-bellied skeleton
at the end. I miss her. Her sweet little face, and how she licked my
fingers for food the last week -- dear little tongue. Poor little bony
body -- sewn up like an old sock after her surgery, as my neighbor
describes it.

She was a game little runtling. One of those babies shipped way too
early. It took her awhile to hold her own with the three others I had
then, but in the end she gave no quarter. Even when she was weak and so
sick, no one could grab HER by the ear and haul her around. She'd just
turn her head away from them, very firmly and decidedly, and they got
the message. I'd never seen anything like it.

Though she played and slept with the others, she never had a special
buddy -- I think she didn't form bonds in her time in the pet store --
the owners had her in the back and were probably helping her to get
bigger on her own apart from the general mayhem of the pen of other
kits.

Though I brought her and Ada home together, and each of my others
bonded with the one they came here with, maybe she didn't really know
Ada. Or maybe she was just an independent "person." But she did enjoy
her business, and during her convalescence wanted to be with them.

A busy little fert woman. I took such hope when she tried to drag
their big velveteen crab toy around when she was gaining strength and
recovering from her operation. And when she gave Mr kitty Heema three
psedo-nips rapidly to the nose when he got too close a few days ago. By
then she was already failing again. I can't believe how fast that new
growth developed. Tina is my first fert to get seriously sick. She was
3 1/2.

My vet loved her too and was crying after she gave me the sad news
over the phone this aft and when we were talking about what to do with
Tina's body after the upcoming euthanasia. A very fine vet and fine
person.

Poor little Tina. But not suffering now. I miss her. I think her wings
are soft brown and feathery to match her soft brown fur. Her sweet
little eyes, al squinched up in pain after her operation and then open
and full again for a few days only to close down again. I'm sure they
are open again now, looking around at her new surroundings. I wish she
were back here again, well and whole.

[Posted in FML 5681]