Hello-
 
My name is Sonya and I live in New Mexico.  I am from Texas, and have lived
in several cities there.  I lived in Arizona for 4 1/2 years, and liked it
best.  Only, it gets way too hot for me in the summer.  That's where I got
Renny, who went to the Rainbow Bridge in September of this year.  She was a
Petersen ferret, from Minnesota.  She was barely 2 1/2 yrs and I miss her
terribly.  I will ALWAYS love and miss her.  I truly HOPE and PRAY there
REALLY is a place called Rainbow Bridge, and that the stories are all true.
 
Toby is a male MF ferret that came from a pet store where he had been
returned.  He was so sweet and laid back.  He is an albino, six months or
more.  I thought he would be a perfect buddy for Renny.  Only, I didn't
know she would die a month later.  He's had some problems, intestinal
upsets, but is getting better... thank goodness!  Again, he's quite laid
back.  He loves to be held and cuddled.  He's very gentle too.  I think of
him as a rescue.  He is kind of large, therefore lacked the appeal of being
a "baby".  He is also a major thief!!  Nothing is safe.  If he can reach or
get at it, it is his.
 
And there's Girlie.  She's about 4 months old.  She is a marked, DEW.  I
saw her almost two months ago, at the same pet store.  She was more than a
nipper, but I figured she'd settle down and get a home anyway.  Feeling
really down about Renny and all, I went to the pet store one weekend.  She
was gone and I told a clerk I was glad she had gotten a home.  Turns out
she had been placed in a back room because she had gone "crazy".  She was
attacking and biting people, and the clerk said they didn't want her having
babies that were biters.  I explained the many reasons she might be biting:
mouth/teeth pain, stomach/diet problems, prolapse, deafness, teasing, etc.
I also said that their babies are sent to them already spayed/neutered.  It
took some doing, in person and over the phone with the store manager.  I
suggested a ferret shelter, or at least a ferret familiar vet.  You see,
the plan was to give her to a vet to be put down.  I didn't give up, and
brought her home a week before Thanksgiving day.  A week later, I could
hold her near my face to give and receive kisses without having to be too
guarded.  I was too busy trying to gain her trust, and so didn't realize
until last week that she is indeed deaf.  Also, took her to the vet the day
after I got her and she had ear mites.  So, I thought this along with being
teased and isolated was why she was biting.  She brought blood a few times
and loved going for the soft spot between my thumb and forefinger.  Once,
she literally grabbed my hand with her paws and teeth, as if she thought I
was going to whack her upside her head.  Poor thing.  Now she is loved and
well cared for.  She deserved an honest chance.  She already thinks she
owns and runs the place.
 
I knew about the FML, but didn't subscribe until after Renny's death.  This
bothers me because maybe someone on the list could have helped her.  I was
so busy looking for something... anything on the net that might could have
helped her, and writing/calling ferret vets, that I didn't even think about
getting help from the FML.  I went over and over the same sights, and
things I had printed off of them a couple of years ago.  Looking for a word
or a symptom that Renny had.  Plus, at the time, personal use of the e-mail
address wasn't allowed.  Also, my ignorance played into it.  I somehow
thought it was more about idle conversation than help and insight.  I don't
know how I got that impression.  Now I read it every day.  I have learned a
lot and made a lot of friends in such a short time.
 
Thanks to everyone that's a part of it.  And thanks an awful lot to BIG for
making it happen.
 
Prayers and sympathies to all with sick and/or little ones that have passed
on.
 
I've had all kinds of companion animals.  I never dreamed that one small
and tiny "weasel" could mean SO much to me, and in SO many ways.  Renny
literally stole my heart.  There will always be a piece of it missing.
She, in NO way, is replaceable.  And though it will never be the same, I
know I will grow to love the two I have now... almost as much... maybe as
much, but in different ways for different reasons.  I already do.
 
Sonya
 
P.S. Have one husband and one teenage son.
[Posted in FML issue 2892]