I'm having trouble writing this - even a week and a half later. On Wed
August 23, [July 23? BIG] Bear left us for the Bridge. Bear was an
adorable dark-eyed white. He had the best temperment and the cutest
personality of any ferret we've had. (Yes, I'll admit it, he was my
favorite....) He was so, so sick as a kit and we almost lost him. He
finally got well and lived with us for five more years. Bear would
follow me around and lay on my feet while I was at the computer doing
homework. If I had the nerve to put him back in his cage while still at
the computer, he would lay flat out on one of the shelves in the cage
and just stare at my with the saddest look you've ever seen. We called
it guilt-tripping. He was the master guilt-tripper. Bear also loved
meat - steak, chicken, pork - whatever we had for dinner, he wanted
a piece!

His brother and cagemate, Sammy, left us for the Bridge only a few days
later on Mon August 28. He was also a DEW in his later years, although
he was much darker as a kit. We bought them together from a pet store
(the last two we got from a pet store) and they were together from that
day forward. Cagemates, hammy-mates, partners-in-crime. Sam loved
(bordering on a fetish) stuffed animals. Didn't matter what size, what
color, what species. As long as they were stuffed. He would hide them
in the corner under the futon. Occasionally I would haul them all out
and toss them around the room. Sam would give me a look that said -
"Don't you know that they belong in the corner under the futon?" He
would start hauling them back there and, eventually, Bear would start
helping him. I wish I had a video of them! We buried Sam with as many
stuffed animals as would fit in the box with him.

It breaks my heart that they're both gone. I haven't been able to stop
crying. The remaining four have been wandering around looking for Bear
and Sam.

Pie O' Pah, would you please check on my boys? Tell them that I love
them and miss them so much. They should have quite a crowd to greet
them, especially their former cagemate Bailey, who left us a year ago.
I'm guessing that Bear would have waited for his buddy Sam to follow
him across the bridge - they were never very far from one another.

They're just not with us for nearly enough time.

A Broken Heart Momma
Kelley
Princess, Daisy, Bandit and Poncho

Missing Ben, Jerri, Hershey, Casper, Oscar, Felix, Justin, Shadow,
Bailey, Bear and Sammy

[Posted in FML 6057]