I have always posted a eulogy for each of our ferrets that have passed
on.  I have felt bad that I never posted such a eulogy for our ferret
Charlie.  Now, at the one year anniversary of his death, I would like
to remedy that omission and properly remember him.
 
Charlie came into our lives in September, 1997.  Charlie had a tan coat
with white feet and a white bib (see
http://furo.astro.umd.edu/images/charlie5/ ).  He was a good natured
ferret and got along well with all of the other ferrets.  For most of his
life he was the alpha ferret but was easygoing about it, not trying to
dominate the other ferrets.
 
He liked to walk outside on a leash.  When he was about a year old, we
went on a walk down to a river with Charlie, our dog Lupi, and some
friends.  The walk was a couple of miles long.  For about half of the
walk he walked on his own, much farther than any other of our ferrets
has walked.  He liked to follow behind Lupi.  After Lupi's death in 1998,
it was harder to walk him long distances.  Lupi was no longer there for
Charlie to follow and Patrick, our new dog, wanted to wrestle with
Charlie rather than lead.  Charlie liked to wrestle with Patrick, a
Shetland sheepdog, and could hold his own.  Charlie was mentioned (with
the story of Charlie's long walk) in the January/February 2005 issue of
Ferrets magazine in an article about Ferrets and Dogs.
 
When Charlie was curled up in a pouch or hammock, if I placed my hand on
him, he would gently, but firmly, grab my finger in his teeth, carry the
finger outside of the pouch, put the finger down, and release it.  It was
like he was removing a foreign object from his personal space.  I thought
it was very cute, but hurt just a bit.
 
Charlie loved playing with plastic balls and supervising his collection
of Cheweasels.  If one of them got moved by another ferret, Charlie would
put it back where he knew it belonged.  He was smart enough to move
Cheweasels away from the edge of the cage to protect them from the dog.
 
In Charlie's last year he had a tumor in the right adrenal gland.
Growth of the tumor seemed to be slowed by lupron shots at Dr. Edling's
clinic in Horsham PA, but eventually the tumor became big.  He died on
St.  Patrick's Day, March 17, 2005, at the age of 7 years, 8 months.
He is buried near many of our other pets at Sugarloaf Pet Cemetery in
Barnesville, Maryland, and on his stone his epitaph reads "Everybody's
Friend".
 
Some more pictures of Charlie are at his (unfinished) web page:
http://furo.astro.umd.edu/ferrets/charlie/ .
 
Bill and Clare Sebok
[Posted in FML issue 5184]