At about 5pm today, Buttons was released from this earth.  My sweet
Butterbutt was a deaf cinnamon blaze with a few white toes on each foot.
He was deaf as a post, and gave the misleading impression of being dumb
as one too.  He was good natured and goofy, and had a shuffling gait that
was unmistakable as he crossed the kitchen floor.  His war dance was as
spastic as they come.
 
But he was really very smart.  He figured out things no other ferret
could, like not only how to get into the kitchen drawers from the bottom
cabinets, but also that he could push the drawer open to climb onto the
kitchen counter.  His favorite toys were a baby rattle he cherished from
a kit; a Scoozie that he would sniff out if you tried to hide it from
him; and a pig that twirled it's tail, walked and oinked.  The toys all
lived under the headboard of my waterbed, which was his special den.
Only Cookie was allowed into his den; Andi and Cassie were chased away if
they tried to enter his kingdom.
 
Buttons was the alpha ferret, but wore his crown lightly.  When sisters
Andi and Cassie joined the household 2 years ago, Andi desperately wanted
to be alpha.  Buttons calmly but firmly told her no.  He never picked a
fight, but always won them.  He was my quiet lanky Gary Cooper ferret.
 
Buttons was never a cuddler, and didn't like to be held.  I felt bad that
I was unable to hold him and comfort him these last few weeks as he got
weaker and sicker.  But after he got the shot, he gave me non-stop kisses
for a full minute before he went limp, and a couple minutes later, he
stopped breathing.  I know he loved me, and he knows I will love him
always.
 
Linda
[Posted in FML issue 4150]