Hello FMLers:
 
Thank you all for your support and love in helping us to deal with the
passing of our Ripple.  We've received more e-mail than I can count about
this, and it's obvious (at least to us) that ferret owners *don't* consider
their "kids" to be "just pets".  Ripple was the most recent of our children
to join us and it doesn't seem at all fair that he would be the first to go.
 
A bit of an update regarding Ripple's cause of death.  The vet asked for an
autopsy so she could try to determine what had happened, and we agreed.  She
discovered the problem almost instantly.  Ripple had one, single cancerous
and enlarged lymph node in his chest, pressing against both his heard and
lungs.  She theorizes that the stress of the operation, losing 15% of his
body weight, etc. aggravatated the node, causing it to swell and force
fluid into his lungs.  His blood work did *not* show lymphoma, so we had no
reason to suspect a problem and, in any event, located where it was it would
have been nearly impossible to operate on.
 
It seems it was his time.
 
On Saturday we laid Ripple to rest in our flower garden with his favorite
toys and a banana (he loved bananas).  The grief is beginning to pass, as
we know he's waiting for us not too far away.  I'll be updating the web
page shortly with Ripple's final pictures.
 
Thanks again to everybody for your support.  It's helped a lot.
 
He will be missed.
 
Steve and Colleen
Continually Matching Wits with Missy, Newone, Zebulon Pike,
                               Minx, Slinky, and Puck
Waiting on the Other Side:  Ripple
http:  www.gate.net/~woodcock/wyrdhaven.html
[Posted in FML issue 1439]