It has been a very sad week in our household.  My son, Norman, had to have
one of his ferrets, "Baby", put to sleep on his 16th Birthday.  Baby had
been sick for about 2 weeks - had several tests done (all came back normal,
except an extremely low red blood count and a large hair-ball in the
stomach) and had surgery (to remove the hairball, get some samples for
biopsy, and check his adrenals, etc.).  He seemed to perk up a little
after tha surgery, but only for a couple of days and then he went back
downhill fast.  He onluy ate, because he was to polite not to lick our
finger when it was in front of his face.  We stopped the testing and had
him put to sleep when they eliminated all causes that could be treated and
he would be able to start producing red blood cells again.  By process of
elimination, it seems he had some sort of cancer of the bone marrow.  The
bone marrow was no longer making red blood cells and the spleen couldn't
keep up - his red blood count was down to 9%.
 
Those at the Rainbow Bridge - watch out for a very sweet,sable, male
ferret - if he is hogging the box of Plastic Eggs - that's Baby - please
watch out for him and be sure he knows he is missed - A LOT!  While we
miss him, we are glad he isn't suffering any more.
 
Thank you to everyone who sents prayers, good wishes and cards for Baby's
surgery.  And I hope there are not too many typos in this, tears make it
hard to see waht you are writing.
 
Linda, Norman,
and the 4 fuzzy and sweet and lonely terrors:
Frisky, Sassy, Mae, and Handsome,
[Posted in FML issue 3101]