Greetings all.
 
I have some sad news to relate.
 
Osmar died last Wednesday night / early Thursday (Dec.  4) morning.  He
was a four year old ferret who was very active and playful.  Up until 2
months ago.  then he underwent emergency surgery for an obstruction.
Then a month ago he developed a very severe set of gastric ulcers and
inflammatory bowel disorder.  Over the last month he went from 900 grams
to about 430.  Last Wednesday night he got very sick around 12:30.  I
cleaned him up and the cage, gave him fresh bedding and put him back into
the cage.  I checked to see how he was doing as soon as I got up Thursday
morning.  He had died some time during the night.  I've been through this
2 times before.  But this one has been difficult.  I really thought he'd
make it.
 
Essentially Osmar chose us, we did not choose him.  When I first saw him
in the pet store, he became quite attached to me, literally.  I had held
him very briefly and then put him back in the cage.  He began jumping up
(he always was quite the leaper) and managed to catch my thumb.  Actually
one of his canines became embedded in my thumb.  With Wendy's help we
managed to get him free from my thumb and I sneaked back to the car so
the staff wouldn't see me bleeding.  We brought him home with us shortly
thereafter.  He fit right in with the other three.  And when he didn't
Ryoga (bless his little soul) would beat the tar out of him.  He was a
small ferret.  Osmar did not grow much after we brought him home, he was
always about the size of a female.
 
Shortly before getting Osmar, we had rescued a lovely chocolate male who
had been severely neglected and abused.  Augustus did not know how to be
a ferret.  Osmar taught him all Augustus needed to know about ferrethood,
and helped him integrate into the business.  Osmar was the only one who
could keep up with Possum and became her main playmate when Ryoga and
Augustus became too sick to play.  Possum and Osmar would riot all over
the entire house, up and down the stairs and all through the main level
and the upstairs.  He loved tunneling through the bed and ambushing you.
It made getting dressed in the morning interesting to say the least.  He
loved tube games of all sorts.  He'd be in the tube waiting for the right
point to ambush you, but he would get so excited, his tail would be going
like a propeller.
 
Osmar loved stashing himself in my dresser drawers.  I'd open the top
drawer and find him nestled in my socks or t-shirts or my underwear.
Needless to say I was not too pleased with that one.  When he first
started climbing up the dresser he'd make a horrendous racket.  But as
time went on he learned how to climb better and better so that he would
not make much noise at all.  At times it was a bit of a startle to see
his little head with this huge ferret grin (as if to say Look how smart
I am) pop out of the top drawer.  I had to seal and latch my upper two
drawers to prevent him from getting on top of the dresser and throwing
everything off of it.  He'd also stash his treasures beneath the bottom
drawer of my dresser.  This included the occasional coke can, anything
resembling a plastic blister pack (memory packs were particularly
vulnerable that made upgrading our computers a challenge), and anything
else that struck his fancy.  He was also absolutely convinced that
blueberries were good to eat, and was always disappointed when he bit
into one.  Then he'd look at me as if to say "You rat you deceived me."
 
One of his favorite activities was rim patrol while I had my morning
shower.  While I was showering he'd jump up on the rim of the bathtub and
almost march along the rim until I was done.  Then he'd wait until I put
a towel across the rim and he's climb down to sample the left over water.
Once in a while when I just started the shower, his aim would be off and
he'd land in the shower itself.  If I did not have soap in my eyes I'd
rapidly scoop him up and put him outside the shower.  Then he'd spend a
few minutes furiously cleaning himself.
 
Osmar had also mastered the high art of the ferret dance.  It was the
purest dance of joy.  And he'd break into it at any time, and at times
for no reason at all, just for the sake of joy.  He'd ambush you on the
bed and then dance so hard he'd fall off the side.  A moment later he'd
climb back up and do it again.
 
Osmar was very intelligent and affectionate.  He was a great little guy.
I am very much going to miss him.  Now the house seems too quite and
lonely now that he's gone.
 
larry
--
 
Larry C. Lyons
 
========================================================
Life is Complex. It has both real and imaginary parts.
========================================================
Chaos, Panic and Disorder. My work here is done.
[Posted in FML issue 4356]