Hello to all.
 
I signed off from the FML over the Christmas break because we were going
away for 3 weeks and it was my intention to re-connect with you all when
we got back.  Unfortunately, I haven't yet because there just has not
been time to read them but I do miss keeping up with what is going on.
 
As usual, we went with all of our pets, a dog and 6 ferrets.  When we
left, Nikki and Benji were almost 8 yr. old and ailing in various ways.
We wondered how they would manage the trip and they did quite fine, all
things considered.
 
Nikki, before we left (she has had adrenal problems for over 3 yr. now)
was swelling up in the abdomen area, and we were not able to shrink it
down.  The swelling grew very slowly and by later in Feb. it because
obvious that she was very uncomfortable and we were unable to relieve
it.  We had no choice but let her go.  We had an autopsy done and if we
had waited any longer, she may have exploded inside and that would have
been unbearable for her.  We did the best thing for her.  She was just
too old and got too stressed out.  Surgery wouldn't have helped at all
and we would just have put her through too much stress.
 
A few weeks later, we had to let Benji go too.  He had a prostate
blockage and wasn't going to the bathroom.  When we took him to the
vets, he was ready to explode too, only in a different way.  Poor guy
was so uncomfortable, and he was wimpering too and being just plain
miserable.  He has been visably "old" for a few years now and had lost
some weight during the holiday.  Even though he had gained some of that
back, he was just too old and week to go through such a stressful thing
as cathetarization (sp?).
 
To top it all off, last month we laid our sweet old beautiful dog to
rest too.  She was 13 1/2 yr. old and the best dog in the world.
 
Bye my friends.  You are loved very much by us here.  Again, because we
have such an aged crew,  we have been losing them left, right, and
center.  Sad times here.  We have only 4 ferrets left now, and they are
all senior citizens too.  :(
 
I also have a large favor to ask of you all.  I am taking a PowerPoint
Presentation course and my final project is on ferrets.  I pretty much
have it all done except I need some facts and I know these facts have
been on here before.  One of my titles is "What are they?"  How would
you answer this.  "Where did they come from?"  Include the family they
come from and a tiny bit of history.  I already have some facts here.
The one most thing that I really need is some bite statistics.  I have
seen some stats on the frequency of dog, cat, and ferret bites, proving
that per capita, dogs are more dangerous.  Can someone help me out with
this one.  Please respond to me directly using
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because I am still not getting the FML and I won't get it otherwise.
 
Thanks a million for your help.
 
Tryntje Miller.
[Posted in FML issue 3071]