Hello--
 
Usually I'm one of those who sits faithfully in the background on the FML,
often responding privately to questions posted if that is appropriate.
However, today I feel like I need to share my story with others, and ask for
your best wishes...
 
This week has been one of the more difficult ones we've had as far as the
"girls" are concerned.  Today, after much consideration, we had our precious
Ophelia put to sleep.  She suffered a long and hard battle with an
insulinoma, and even underwent surgery in January of this year.  But
eventually (and very recently) the medication wasn't helping anymore and she
wasn't even able to stand on her own or make it to the litterbox which was
so painful to see.  She had also gotten so thin.  What's most difficult is
that she was our first introduction to the wonderful world of ferrets, she
taught us so much about the joy that these little critters can bring, and
we'll always love her for that.  When she first found us she was coming from
a very bad situation where she had been very neglected and perhaps even
worse.  I am glad that we could give her a little solice for the 4 years
that we knew her.  She will be missed.
 
What has also been hard is that our other girl, Chloe, who has always been
extremely healthy (and a little on the chunky side even!) has been at the
vet clinic since Tuesday.  We're still not sure what is wrong from her, but
it seems that there may be a blockage that caused a bacterial infection in
her liver.  She is responding to antibiotics, but she has lost over a third
of her weight.  We are hoping that it isn't anything more serious that will
require surgery, but we need to wait and see at this point.  It's so scary
for us.
 
It's been a difficult week for us, and if you can send those good thoughts
and vibes this way it would be appreciated!! Thanks for listening!
 
Jodi and JJ,
Chloe & dearly departed Ophelia
[Posted in FML issue 2076]