Hello Everyone,
I just read the post this evening asking if Eppy were in Florida.
Unfortunately, not :-( , or maybe he would be found by now.  My Eppy is
still missing, and i am still heartbroken.  I do not display my emotions
so openly anymore, for so much time has passed, but it still causes my
heart to ache terribly, and the tears flow readily as i am thinking of
him.  I have gotten a lot of encouraging email from many of you, and i
REALLY do hope that he is found and has a loving happy home.  My little
vaudeville show, turned rogue ferret?  This is heartache i do not wish on
anyone.
 
I have Bandit, who may, require surgery soon.  Had bloodwork done on him,
because he just didn't seem himself, Bandit is 3 y/o by now & one of the
original 3, who started all this ferret math in the Christen household.
The vet wants to do ultrasound, checking liver, and poss needle
aspiration, which could be followed up by a splenectomy?  (not sure about
the spelling of that one) She suggested that he may have lymphosarcoma?  I
would like to try something not quite so invasive, and monitor him closely
for a little while, i am very scared of all this going on right now.  I
have been through 2 other vets, the first finally admitting to me that he
didn't know much about ferrets, and the 2nd one, who's bedside manners
required some fine tuning, so now i am trying to work with the clinic
that my daughter works @.wish i lived in Kansas right now.... :-) (TLE :-)
 
CAN WE CLONE YOUR VET?  Bandit's coat is thinning and getting coarse, but
i have also noticed this going on with Crimson too?  ...so i would like
to give them both a little more time to come (around?), before doing
something so major on such a little being.  I am really stuck between a
rock and a hard place right now, i am not a vet nor a tech, and i have to
put my faith in a vet whom has seen a "few" ferrets, so i am sure that you
can understand my apprehensions.  Does anyone /can anyone give me some
clues as to appearances, i have also contacted Troy Lynn, and i am going
to try to politely persuade the vet, to give me the meds, that she is
concerned about us handling for him.  If i cannot handle them, then should
i be giving them to someone who is about 100+ pounds/times smaller than
myself?  Bandit is as valuable to me as my flesh and blood, i am sure many
of you understand that, he is my baby too!
 
Please excuse such a long post, i just have a lot on my mind these days.
I really appreciate all that you have done keeping Eppy, in your prayers,
and the emails of encouragement.  I know i will never get over losing
Eppers.  Life has forced me to focus on other things, but Eppy is never
very far in the back of my mind, and he is always with me in my heart.
No crying @ work, but i have a place enclosing a safe (for jewelry, lock
up), if i have to seek refuge to gather myself together, for presentation
purposes.  I have found all the pictures of him, that i've had a chance to
take, and am making a collage to frame and hang.  I am just still too torn
up about this.  I still keep praying that someday, somewhere i will find
him.  In the meantime, i am always looking, in windows/yards/petstores,
ads/anyplace that may harbor a rogue ferret on the loose.  My eyes are
always wandering.  MY heart always searching, for my lost boy.  Is there
a never never land for ferrets?
 
When i lost Odysseus, i found a poem that i wanted to matte and frame with
my favorite picture of him.  Unfortunately i had not had neither Athena
nor Angel and even Diana long enough for photographs, but i go to petco to
make a heart tag, with their names and the dates that they have left this
realm, beloved ferrets, it is just my way of keeping them close to me.  I
will find something befitting to print and frame with the charms to hang
one day.  I have their pictures in my mind, and that is what matters the
most.
 
You all have no idea how you have helped me deal with this and many
other matters regarding my furred children, when things have arisen
and presented themselves to me.  Love you all dearly, for it.  You are
a very special group of people.  Very special.
 
Respectfully
Donna, missing Eppy, Odysseus, Athena, Angel & Diana
[Posted in FML issue 3661]