Sandee,
 
I know that you have more important things to do, but I must ask you to
keep an eye out for our little Linus.  We had to make the decision to put
him to rest after what seemed like a very short battle with
Megaesophagus.
 
It seems too strange that Linus came into our lives starving, and after
3 years of being loved more than any ferret could be loved, he left us
still starving.
 
We met Linus at age 4, when he was dumped at a local animal shelter.  He
was dumped off with his "sister" Lucy, and the people never gave the
shelter very much information.  After almost 2 weeks of starving because
they couldn't find anything they would eat, they gave up and called a
friend of our who took them in.  Kelly took in Lucy, and we took Linus.
After going thru almost every brand of cat, kitten and ferret food on t
he market, we finally found something that he would eat, and eat and eat.
He stayed with us!!
 
Linus turned into my best friend.  He would come to me when I got home
from work, sit at my feet and beg to be picked up.  We would visit for
a few minutes, and he would fall asleep in my arms.  Linus would come
over when I was on the computer, and scratch at my leg until I noticed
him...begging to be picked up.  I would pick him up and cuddle him, and
then he had to make his rounds.  Across the computer keyboard, around the
desk, in the nooks an d crannies, and then back across the keyboard to
curl up in my lap.  He would even come to me when I was in the "throne
room", and curl up in my pants...around my ankles.
 
Linus made almost every trip with us when we did Ferret Education in the
local pet stores, and quickly became a fixture and our mascot.  Everyone
that met him, instantly fell in love with him, as he snuggled into their
arms.  Those deep set brown eyes, t hat freckled nose, and the grey on
his flanks that made him look like he was wearing grey slacks (too big
for his body) just seemd to tell people "I'm a cuddler".
 
Linus was diagnosed about 1-2 months ago, with a disease that we had
never heard of before.  Megaesophagus, causes the muscles in the
esophagus to stop functioning properly, thus making it almost impossible
to get food into the stomach.  We tried everything we could, including
some suggestions from some great people on the FHL and Judy Cooke who had
just gone thru it with her Boomer.
 
As Linus' battle progressed, and the new meds did little to ease his
discomfort, he reached the point where we could no longer get any food
to stay down.  It also seemed that somewhere along the line, he had
aspirated fluid (meds) or food into his lungs and had the beginning of
pneumonia.  We could see it in his eye, that he was tired and just wanted
to rest.  As much as it broke my heart to even think of it, I could not
stand to see him suffer any longer.  So we made a trip to our vets house,
after she got home from work.  We all visited wi th him for a while, made
our peace with him, and she gave him the rest he deserved.
 
I held my baby on my chest for the last time, near my heart, so he could
crawl into it once again.  He had been there for 3 years now, and I never
want him to leave.
 
Sandee, please make sure that he knows that he was loved by his mom, Dr.
Katie, friends and strangers alike, but most of all by his dad.  Tell him
that I'll miss hearing his shuffling foot steps along the carpet runners.
Tell him I'll miss him sleeping on my lap as we rode in the truck.  Tell
him I'll miss the ear snuffles after I got out of the shower.  Tell him
I'll miss his yearly wild strawberry hunts in the back yard.  Tell him
I miss him!!
 
Have Oliver, Seth, Fiona, Fuzzy, Leo, Gabbie, Nico, Cocoa and the rest
meet him and show him where to make his den.  Tell him to make it big
enough for me too...some day.
 
I love you bubbie!!
Dad
 
Ferret Rescue of Maine
A State licensed, 501c3 Non-profit shelter.
Donate to shelter ferrets by clicking
igive.com/from
[Posted in FML issue 4470]