I lost my Penny girl this evening. She was almost 9 and had insulinoma
plus adrenal. Lately she had become thin and nearly hairless despite
all the meds. She came here years ago from the OR Ferret Shelter in a
group of 5 "oldies" with Merc, Lacey, Baby, Shockra and 1 severe abuse
case named Flash. She was the sweetest one and one of the oldest. The
first day she was here she destroyed my upstairs bathroom. On the floor
was all the toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc from the countertop, plus
all the facecloths and towels from the cabinet, and all the combs and
brushes from the drawers. How she did it all, I don't know. In the tub
where I keep the water dripping for "ferret showers" was an entire box
of soggy tissues strewn everywhere. Penny stood in the middle of the
mess....so proud of herself. I called Chris at the shelter and said "I
thought you said these were OLD ferrets!"

Penelope was always the life of the party! Through the years all the
others in her group left for the Rainbow Bridge but she was happy to
join another group. She eventually became "grandma" to Tyki, the
jet-propelled nutcase baby ferret I got. When he got into trouble with
the others in the group Tyki always went to his "grandma" for some love
and kisses. He's been the one who has been keeping her warm these last
few months.

This morning she ate soup, then this afternoon she ate almost a whole
jar of baby food...oh how she loved to eat! When I did one of my
routine checks on her she was curled up in a blanket under a hammock
filled with her cagemates. She felt all toasty warm and it took a few
minutes for me to realize that she was gone. I had been holding her a
lot lately telling her how she would see all her friends at the Rainbow
Bridge soon. This morning I told her that it was okay if she decided to
join them, that I would miss her terribly but how nice it would be for
her to have hair again and be healthy.

She is in the cage now, curled up in a purple blankie that she will
be buried in, so that all her cagemates can say goodbye. I am worried
about Tyki, he loves her so much. He is an enormous guy now but was
always so gentle and careful with her. He seemed to understand how
frail she was.

My day will be so empty tomorrow. Her care took up a lot of my
time....daily bedding changes and baths because she didn't realize
when she had to poop.....preparing her meds....spoon feeding her
baby food....holding and loving her. I miss her.
 
Nancy in Oregon with her 15 fuzzies

[Posted in FML 6276]