Buttercup died on Saturday, May 12, at about noon.  She was 7 years and 4
months old.  On Friday evening, we realized the end was near.  On Saturday
morning, she was still alive but had not moved from her pouch all night.
She still completely refused food and sometimes made little groans.  We
took her to Dr. Weiss for euthanasia, but she died in her own time...in
his waiting room before we were called in.  Bill, her favorite person in
the world, held her as her heart stopped.
 
Buttercup was a pretty little sable ferret with a cute pointed nose and
a very bright expression.  She was a smart little ferret.  Some of our
ferrets' favorite toys are little footballs of crinkly material sewn around
some stuffing.  Buttercup got the idea that it would be fun to hold one
of these toys beneath her and use it like a sled to slide down the ramp
between the floors of the cage.  When she got to the bottom she would pick
up the toy, carry it up and do it over again.  This was very amusing to
watch.
 
A maze of clear dryer hose runs around the perimeter of our ferret room.
This consists of lengths of clear dryer hose connected by plumbing joints
which also provide access to the maze.  Ben and Jerry (our first two
ferrets) and Buttercup used to chase each other through this maze.
Buttercup figured out that she could exit the maze, run across the room
and reenter the maze from the other side of the room.  Thus she could cut
Ben and Jerry off and ambush them.  Most of the time in the dryer hose
games, however, Ben would advance and Buttercup would retreat.  Buttercup
was an expert in running nearly full speed backwards inside a dryer hose.
 
After Ben and Jerry died, Buttercup started putting little stuffed animals
inside any available ferret tent or sleeping pouch.  She liked these
animals so much that we kept buying her more.  Some of her favorites were
little Curious George toys, a set of 4 mice, and small finger puppets
from Borders.  Often she would put away 10 or 15 of these toys in one
session.  She and Bonnie competed for control of the little football
toys, but Buttercup was the sole owner of the stuffed animals.
 
Buttercup's strong will brought her through many crises during her
three-year battle with adrenal cancer.  She lived nearly 2 1/2 years
longer than we originally expected.  She continued to eat soup on her own
until the day before she died, and she was putting her favorite stuffed
animals in her sleeping pouch a week before her death.
 
Pictures of Buttercup and more details of her life are in her web page
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~wls/ferrets/buttercup/
as well as in the page for all of our ferrets
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~wls/ferrets/ .
 
Buttercup is survived by Bridgett, the remaining member of our original
group of 5, and Bonnie and Charlie.  Their cage is full of Buttercup's
collection of little stuffed animals.  Bonnie likes one of them--a lamb
that makes a jingly noise, so the lamb will be hers now.  A few of
Buttercup's favorites will be buried with her, some of the bigger ones
will be given to our Sheltie, Patrick, and the rest will be packed away
in the hope that a ferret who joins our family in the future will play
with them.
 
In Maryland, the buttercups have been blooming since the first of May. She
survived to one last buttercup season. The next time you see a field of
buttercups blooming, please remember her.
 
Bill and Clare Sebok
[Posted in FML issue 3419]