As some of you may know Peekaboo was a rescue from West Virginia where
the shelter in Annandale, Va. helped me in transport to get both her
and Pester Doodle to me here in Mechanicsville, Va. Both were fine
little animals, Peekaboo was blind and deaf but got along just fine
and was otherwise quite normal. Pester is a ball of fire all the time.

Peekaboo developed a hair loss in one spot under her ear and behind her
mouth area. I thought she had scratched her fur off to treated her for
ear mites. But that wasn't the problem. The a lump began to form that
looked like a scar from all that scratching so I treated that with
topical disinfectant. But that lump continued to grow. I kept on with
the topical stuff but that lump continued to grow and then it was
apparent it was not just from scratching. That whole area where the
skin was all around the lump was red and fur had begun to stop growing
and was falling out.

So off to the vet. She was there for a couple of days for observation
and x-rays and all. The result was this was a tumor and had grown into
her neck muscles and blood supply to the brain. I was told that a
operation could be performed to remove this but surviving the operation
was really not viable. She would not survive the surgeon.

I took her home and returned her to her cage where she was greeted by
Pester in due form. Over the term I kept an eye on Peekaboo for radical
changes but she seemed to be doing just fine. Last week I did notice
she was having allot of difficulty getting up or down the cage ramps.
She could not hold her balance and did not have the strength to use
them. She ate like a horse which is consistent with cancers, they suck
everything out of the blood stream for itself. Peekaboo had lost allot
of weight just the same as much as she ate. Lately I could hear all
kinds of squealing and noises of what sounded like distress coming
from the cage area. It was Peekaboo. She must have been I some sort of
seizure from that tumor. She was ok, not trapped or being attacked, but
she was obviously in a bad way and there was not one damn thing I could
do to help her other than to pet her. She didn't respond for quite a
while but eventually would turn to give me all kinds of kisses one
after another. Rip my heart out !!!!

I had resigned myself to the fact her time was close and I may be
'called' to help her across the bridge. Not a pleasant thought where
she was such a gentle animal so very glad to see me and jump into my
arms to stay as long as I would hold her. I loved that.

This morning I got up as usual and checked on the business to see how
they were. Pester was in the upper hammy where she usually was and
Peekaboo was curled up in the lower hammy where she usually camped out.
Pester came out to greet me but Peekaboo just slept on. So I reached
in to give her a shake to wake her up, but she was stiff.

Peekaboo had passed on during the night. I buried her next to Byte-me
and the others that have passed this last forever home. Sigh.

So now I have only Pester Doodle. She will do fine but when she goes
looking for Peekaboo that will rip my heart all to pieces.

Peekaboo was about 6 years old to my best determination. So for a fert
she didn't have a long life, but a reasonable one of a sort. She had a
good loving home and lots of out time and good food, lots of it. She
was treated with care and respect and most of all lots of love. And
she certainly gave that back in many forms. Sigh.

So that, folks, is how my day started. Swell. Such is life, nothing
remains forever, not even this universe or our planet. Thanks Peekaboo
for sharing part of your life with me.

-- 

EnvelopeHow much in your home was made in the USA?
No longer are we self suffecient, we are owned by other nations and are
at their mercy.

[Posted in FML 6799]