Raven's Memorial

August 2000 to December 20, 2006

On December 20, 2006 Raven was assisted to the Rainbow Bridge with my
hand on his head telling him it was OK to let go and our Vet and Vet
technician administering the shots. He will be buried in our backyard
next to Knave and will be met at the Rainbow Bridge by Knave and his
sister Adrianna.

Raven has been living with adrenal disease since 2004. Instead of
surgery we chose to give him the four month Lupron depot and recently
melatonin as he wasn't a good candidate for surgery. In October, we
found out that Raven's adrenal disease was very advanced and he had
an inoperable tumor on his lungs. I brought him home, hoping that he
would make it through the holidays and pass away at home. However, as
it got closer to Christmas he got progressively worse. He scratched
constantly, developed sores, chewed his front legs bloody, extremities
swelled up, round red bruised looking spots developed on his belly and
back, and he couldn't go more than a couple of feet before collapsing.
Through all this he remained stoic and didn't show his pain by crying
or whimpering. He would occasionally tear up when eating, but would
continue to eat through his pain. My beautiful boy's body was shutting
down and so that he wouldn't continue to suffer I made the decision to
put him to sleep. Since yesterday afternoon I've been reflecting on our
life with Raven.

One semi-humid day in August of 2002, Steve and I visited our local
pet store to pick up supplies when we stopped by the ferret cage. At
a glance the two ferrets in the cage appeared to be kits. However, we
were soon told that they were a brother and sister named Raven and
Adrianna age two who had been surrendered by a twelve year old owner.
On closer examination, they were extremely thin with lackluster fur.
Tears came to my eyes when I thought about what they must have gone
through and my heart went out to them. Steve seeing how emotional their
situation affected me suggested that we go next door to the Blockbuster
and get a movie for the evening. While in the video store Steve told
me he had to go to the bathroom and he left for a few minutes. When
he came back we rented the movie and went straight to the car. When I
opened the door, on the floorboards sat an open box and two ferrets
were wandering throughout the car. Steve had purchased Raven and
Adrianna.

Being fairly new to the world of ferrets at the time, we introduced
them to Rogue and Knave right away. Luckily things went well and
no-one was rejected. However, six weeks into their introduction to our
household all of the ferrets became very sick. Adrianna stopped eating
and drinking and progressively got worse. When I took her to the Vet to
get some sub-q fluids, she died in the Vets hands. Raven on the other
hand progressively got better with tender loving care and a better
diet. He started to get beautiful chocolate brown fur and the cutest
face. I couldn't believe I ever thought he was kind of ugly.

Raven seemed to prefer humans more than ferrets and just wasn't sure
how to play like a ferret. He followed us around slowly waddling after
us whenever we walked through the house (which got him the nickname
of "our puppy") and then he would lie somewhere nearby when we were
sitting down. The boys, Steven Jr. and Michael, liked Raven because
he was the only ferret in our household that never bit them. He would
latch onto the other ferrets and sometimes it required someone prying
his jaw open, but he never nipped at a human. He loved to stick his
head in your mouth to smell your breath. This habit almost got his head
bitten off by Shadow the husky we had at the time. Luckily I grabbed
him and removed his head from the dog's mouth before he clamped down.

Steve and I will dearly miss Raven, but we are glad to have been
blessed with over four years of his sweet presence in our lives.

[Posted in FML 5464]