Hi all,
 
I lost my 8.5 year old little guy, Scamp, just over two weeks ago.  It's
taken me this long to write about it, as I've found this loss particularly
difficult to cope with.  It is always so devastating losing one of our
beloved fuzzies, but this one for me has been so sad.
 
Scamp had adrenal cancer.  He had it for some time before the symptoms
really started showing.  He was finally diagnosed, but since Scamp was so
old, and not a good candidate for surgery, we opted for Lupron shots to
help his enlarged prostate, and Mitotane to kill off the tumor.  Scamp did
improve with the treatment, but unfortunately, the cancer won.
 
Scamp was a walking skeleton for the last 2 weeks of his life.  I took the
week off work before we took Scamp into the vet to have him euthanized.  He
needed help during that week to get to his water, and be fed, and I needed
to be there with him for myself.  It was so difficult to watch my little
guy deteriorate day by day, but he still had the will to live.  I knew the
day he needed help to go to the Bridge.  His eyes told me.  I still don't
know how the receptionist at the vet understood my words through my
sobbing, and trying to tell her I needed to take Scamp in so they could
euthanize him.
 
On the way up to the vet's, I had my hand on Scamp through his cage's open
door.  I knew these were the last few minute that I could touch and comfort
him.  I wasn't in the room when they gave Scamp the shot.  Before the shot,
they put him in a little chamber to give him gas and put him out, and then
gave him the shot.  I was outside the vet's office with my wonderful man,
Jim, and we were both bawling our eyes out.
 
I took Scamp's body home, to show my remaining ferrets.  Shreddy, who
dearly loved Scamp, gave his body a sniff, the proceeded to *look* for him.
It was like she knew that what I showed her was Scamp's beautiful little
shell, and she was looking for his soul.  When I showed Finnigan and
Scrumpy.  they both curled up beside Scamp's still-warm body, and tried to
bed down to sleep with it.  It was heart-breaking.
 
Jim and I took Scamp's body to Devonian Park.  It is a wild park, and I
used to walk Scamp, and his brother, Bear, there every weekend.  We buried
Scamp's body by the creek that he loved to drink from.  It was nice.
 
I've lost ferrets before, and it's always been devastating, but losing
Scamp has been particularly difficult.  He is one of my original ferrets.
I rescued Bear and Scamp about 7 years ago, and when Bear died 2 years ago,
Scamp and I grew a very close bond.  Scamp slept with me every night, and
he constantly followed me around the house when I got home from work.  He
"put up" with the other wonderful fuzzies I have rescued, but I was always
his mum.
 
Thanks so much for listening.  Good-bye, my precious little angel Scamp.
 
Linda, (Angel Scamp), Shreddy, Finnigan and Scrumpy
[Posted in FML issue 3033]