Elin ? -- April 24, 2007

We adopted Elin last November from someone who had her and her cagemate
for about six months. That had been her second home--her first owner
had moved to California. The two youngsters (about 1 - 2 years old)
were passed onto me because the daughter in the home was afraid of
them--they had nipped her toes--and they weren't getting any out time
at all.

She and her brother fit in well with our other ferrets (we had four
others at the time), and adapted to us--loving the more spacious cage
and playtimes.

Last Tuesday, my daughter was home from school with a friend (neither
one has classes on Tuesday). At about 2:00 PM she took Elin out and
introduced her to her friend and gave her a quick cuddle. She seemed
perfectly fine.

After taking her friend back home, Michelle decided to clean the ferret
cage since she was going to be away from home for a few days. She took
Beau out of the hammock and put him down. Then she took out Elin. Her
initial thought was "How cute, she's Sleeping-Not-Dead." Then she
realized that Elin's eyes were open. She couldn't be aroused. She had
just recently died--her body was still limp and warm. She couldn't
have been in any pain; we were there and there wasn't a sound or any
movement that would have shown her being uncomfortable.

There was no blood coming out of any orifice, but her pads and gums
were pure white. The only thing I can think of is that she either died
of an aneurysm or had a quick growing cancer that attacked a vein or
artery. Unfortunately, we do not have the money for a necrotopsy, so
we'll never really know what killed her, only that she died peacefully.

She was a feisty little girl, with lots of attitude. She only weighted
a pound and a few ounces, but she had the gumption to scruff our ten
pound cat! The poor cat just froze and mewed until we rescued him. LOL!

We always try to figure out what kind of angel wings our bridge kids
are given. Hers are black feathers, and she's already buzzing Rory--our
last bridge kid. She will be missed.

Melodyt and the terrific three

-- 
Melody Tomaszewicz
Holdings Record Maintenance Team Leader
New Brunswick Libraries
Distributed Technical Services
Rutgers University
Email: [log in to unmask]
Phone:  (732) 445-3856 ext. 313

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."

[Posted in FML 5595]