Ben passed away this morning at 11:10 a.m.  Clare was holding her in her
little yellow baby blanket when she stopped breathing.  She had been
unconscious since the night before.  Her life ended very gently.
 
After doing very well over the weekend, Ben started to decline on Monday and
the downward spiral continued no matter what we, Dr. Weiss, or Dr. Fulton
did.  Probably the lymphosarcoma had invaded her pancreas and caused it to
fail.  Yesterday we decided to keep trying to save her since some of the
test results looked pretty good: her liver and kidneys were functioning well
and although some of the abdominal lymph nodes were enlarged, there were no
tumors big enough to show up on ultrasound.  But Ben was unconscious most of
the evening, so we couldn't even get much food into her.  She didn't move at
all during the night, and this morning she didn't respond at all to a
hydration injection.  Her eyes were open and she was breathing rapidly.  We
couldn't get her to wake up.  It was good to know she was not in pain.  We
just kept a vigil until she passed on.
 
On February 7, Dr. Charles Weiss removed a large tumor from Ben's pancreas
that turned out to be lymphosarcoma.  Ben had been on chemotherapy for 6
months under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Fulton of the Veterinary Referral
Clinic in Gaithersburg, MD.  She had been doing well most of the time but
lately the cancer had begun to become drug-resistant.
 
Ben loved raisins, Ferretone, and Nutri-Cal.  She loved to carry around her
little stuffed egg-shaped, crinkly-sounding toys.  She also enjoyed running
through the dryer hose maze.  When she was younger, she would often take
flying leaps from one place to another.  Ben was the alpha ferret of our
little ferret group.  When she advanced through the dryer hose, the other
ferrets would retreat.
 
Ben was the senior ferret in our family.  Until January, she was so healthy
and active for an older ferret that we expected her to live to be 9 or 10.
Ben and her sister and litter-mate Jerry were our first two ferrets.  We had
them since they were kits.  Jerry died on February 15 of kidney failure at
the age of 7 years and 2 1/2 months.  Six months and a week after Jerry's
death, Ben died at the age of 7 years and 8 1/2 months.  Buttercup at 3 1/2
years inherits the crown of alpha ferret.  Bridgett (3 years) and Jasmine (2
years) are the remaining ferrets.  With just 3 ferrets the house seems very
empty.
 
One incident showed Ben's strong will and intelligence.  Ben liked to leap
from the back of a chair in the ferret room to the desk.  One day she did
that multiple times and each time Bill would put her back down on the floor.
Then after a bit of time, Ben, near the chair again, looked up at Bill and
hissed.  We think this means Ben realized that if she climbed up on the
chair and jumped on the desk Bill would put her back down, and she did not
like that one bit.  She understood the subjunctive mood, the concept that
Bill *might* do something she didn't like -- a higher level of intelligence
than for which many people are willing to give them credit.
 
Ben was a very cute silver mitt ferret with a black nose.  Her face had a
somewhat serious look, befitting her high status in our ferret group, and
showing her strong will.  We called her the Queen (Jerry was the Princess).
Many pictures of her (and our other ferrets) can be see at Bill's web photo
gallery at URL "http://www.astro.umd.edu/~wls/images/".  A memorial page for
Ben and Jerry together is in preparation.  Ben will be buried beside Jerry.
 
Ben and Jerry are doing the circle dance together at the Rainbow Bridge like
they used to do together when they were young.  We miss you Ben.  Goodbye
sweet Queen.
 
Bill and Clare Sebok
[Posted in FML issue 2042]