We had a little fella come into the shelter - a man and his daughter, on
the way to a funeral saw a small white shape walking down the curb near
their house.  They stopped and found it was not a kitten but a ferret!
Scooping him to safety, they took him back to their house, gave him food
and water, and called me on a cell phone while continuing their interrupted
trip.  We made arrangements for that afternoon to have him dropped off -
and this is how we met Snowball - on March 15 of this year.  An albino
male, named by the daughter.  Snowball had big trouble - lumps at his
jaw and along his side.  He is also stone cold blind and suffering from
insulinoma and adrenals.  The biopsy of the lumps revealed cutaneous
lymphoma.  His ADV test was negative.
 
Snowy was a good ferret - he never complained.  He loved the little tent
from Ferretwise and that is where we could always find him when he was
loose.  He took an immediate liking to PeeDee and we caged them together.
 
Snowball was losing ground fast - no matter what he ate or how much, he
steadily lost weight.  We noticed that he struggled to get around and
sometimes dragged his hind legs.  So today, we made the decision to put him
down - I couldn't let him suffer.  He was such a fighter and never deserved
his fate - a blind ferret let loose in March (very cold and blustery) to
end his days at a ferret shelter - he was owed better than that.  I gave
him all the love, comfort and warmth that I could, but its just not the
same when you are used to being the only.
 
Snowball will be buried in our special area of a park under live oak, holly
and pine trees along the bay near our other ferrets we have lost.  I hope
that he is dancing again.
 
Lisa Leidig, Head Ferret
The Ferret Haven "By-the-Sea"
www.ferrethaven.org
[Posted in FML issue 3474]