Hi Sandee, everyone- our Peanut passed away a little over a week ago.
Just a couple months ago she seemed so healthy for a 6 year old; she'd
recovered fabulously from adrenal surgery last December and was chugging
along just fine until she suddenly had problems walking and her spleen
became enlarged in August; she was diagnosed with lymphoma and we had
surgery immediately to remove her spleen and make her more comfortable.
We put her on pred to try to slow the cancer growth knowing, of course,
that it was not a cure.  But I did think we would haver her with us
longer than we did after the surgery- she only lasted just under a month.
 
I could tell in those last two weeks that she wasn't recovering like she
should have been- instead of making progress she seemed to be slowing
down even more and it was really really hard to watch.  Normally our
ferrets are indoors almost all the time, but after her incision healed I
started taking her into the backyard almost every evening because it has
been so hot here and she loved to rub her belly on the cool grass and
roll around on her back.  She was deaf and seemed more than any of our
other ferrets to love tactile sensations on her body.  It was nice to
watch her take such simple pleasure in the grass.  It made me happy to
see.  But she moved around less and less enthusiastically each day
outside.  I am glad I took her out the night before she died.  She didn't
explore much at all that night and was too tired to climb the 3 stairs
she always hopped up, but I like to think that her last memories were of
being outside in the cool night air, sniffing night smells and feeling a
breeze on her little face.  She was alive the next evening when I got
home from work, but after being out a few hours I came home and my
husband told me she had died sometime that evening.  Hopefully she wasn't
in a lot of pain.  She didn't seem to be, but I guess we really don't
know...
 
Anyway, this comes during a very bad year for us when, among other
things, our little boy Scooter died in an accident in April.  I'm still
not over that; I think I've more just pushed it to the back of my mind
because I had such a hard time dealing with my grief.
 
Ironically, our first and oldest ferret- Freddy - has outlived all the
others.  We've gone from 4 to 1 ferret in 9 months.  I always assumed
Freddy would go first.  He's over 6 but still pretty perky, though he
sleeps a lot more now- especially since losing Peanut.  My husband got
her about 6 months after he got Freddy b/c Freddy was so depressed and
lonely by himself.  So they spent almost their whole lives together.  I
don't know how deeply they feel loss like this; we showed him Peanut's
body because I'd read that it helps them understand, but he didn't really
have any reaction to or interest in it.
 
My first memories of Peanut when I first met my husband were mostly
annoyance and frustration; I'd never seen a ferret before and she was a
little devil.  Stealing socks, biting any feet she could find, tunneling
through the couch, digging up the carpet.  She had me hopping around and
dancing on one foot for months, or balancing precariously on the bed
while trying to put on my socks.  But that's not the Peanut I really
remember; she finally settled into a more mellow, but still playful
little girl.  We didn't know she was deaf for the longest time and always
just thought she was a little "different".  It was truly as if she were
in her own world sometimes.  I came to love her very very much during the
past 4 years.
 
I've started taking Freddy outside now- though now it feels like the
death march or something because it wasn't long after I started taking P.
out that she died... But he likes it out there and I hope I'm making his
life a little better and richer by letting him roam around and explore
out there.
 
Sandee- could you please watch for Peanut?.  I guess she's already
arrived... she will want to know where Scooter is if they haven't found
each other yet.  Hopefully there's a little round bed with the lambswool
lining that she can dig in up there somewhere for her because that was
always her favorite sleeping spot- we still have her bed in the cage and
it reminds me of her every time I look at it.  And maybe some you can
help her find some socks too- they can't hurt her now if she chews on
them.  She just loved her socks.
 
thank you,
Jaime
with Freddy, missing Scooter and Peanut
[Posted in FML issue 4279]