Please send a prayer and a thought that little Minnie Markum Poufay is
winging her way cross the Bridge, tail afluff and paws light.  Sweet
little Minnie, our last ferret, crossed over sometime in the wee hours
of September 7th, Saturday morning.
 
Minnie, my "Little Goose", had the wildest, craziest little weezle war
dance of all our ten furzies.  Head thrashing, jaws agape, hopping and
spinning, like a flea gone mad she lost all control and became utter,
abandoned joy.  Minnie, born June 15th, 1994, was the runt (so called!)
and not expected to live, being the tiniest in a battle of nine for eight
teats.  But her feisty soul bore her through that, and much more.  A
congenital heart murmur, whooshing away like a washing machine, bore the
expectation she'd show symptoms of heart problems around four, but she
lived eight and a quarter years and it may have been her kidneys that
went first.  Her eyes were a honey-color red and, no matter the season,
she weighed one pound four (maybe five) ounces, ever fit for the boys
whose adoration was mutual.  As if by magic, Minnie kept her soft, lush
fur seamlessly white, and her little face was so short and pert that
"cute" may as well of been a nickname.  Even at eight years, balding and
with cataracts, people asked if she was a baby!  Ah, I laughed about
that.  All of our six grown boys adored Minnie, the flaming little flirt.
By the time she crossed, though, she carried herself like a little "Queen
Mother".  She loved to dance for her wood- carved Moroccan rattle, and
when we tapped a little plastic Easter wand that had come in some flowers
she also went wild, such a strong, driven little soul!
 
Minnie loved her mother Claudette, a gorgeous Southern-souled albino who
crossed over more than a year ago.  As "Ladybird" Claudette lay breathing
her last husband Dad Janos brought Minnie to where I lay on the couch
holding "Momma".  In the sweetest, most touching goodbye, Minnie laid
her jaw gently alongside her mom's, then looked over and licked my
tear-streaked cheeks, as if to say "don't worry Mom, I'll take care of
Big Mommy now!".  Then she put her mouth to her mommy's ear in a kiss or
whisper of goodbye.  Finally she lay her head under the blankey on her
mother's shoulder just as Claudette breathed her very last slow, deep
breaths.  As Claudette crossed, Minnie poofed for her mommy, who had been
de- poofed, then curled into a little ball at my side.  In a few minutes
Minnie got down and did a sweet and wild little war dance, as if
celebrating her mother's release from the burden of lymphoma-induced
diabetes.  Next Minnie and I went out to the porch and the little
20-ounce albino spitfire stood beneath our wrought-iron railing looking
up into the flaming colors of the setting February sun, as if watching
her momma winging away.  Oh, how true that ferrets steal not just your
heart, but also your soul!
 
Minnie, fearless heart whooshing away, battled insulinoma successfully
for more than a year, and Lupron did not fend off approaching baldness,
though she overcame pneumonia last winter.  Only days after we lost sweet
Lucy post-surgery, Minnie - quite the rickety little gal by now -
faltered and, despite our attempts to save her, was gone in two weeks.
Lucy's passing, so recent, was sudden, and perhaps she needed Minnie's
help to guide the way.  Or perhaps Minnie's heart couldn't withstand,
without the morning and nightly ritual of Lucy's kisses turning her tiny
white head into newborn chicken fluff.
 
Minnie's passing ends, for now, our era of ten ferrets over so many
years.  I see all their faces before me, so sweet and wonderful - how I
miss them so!  Bless them all at the bridge now awaiting mom and dad....
Thank you all for being here.  I will keep reading the FML and seeing my
nephew ferrets Monty and Madison, and other friends' ferrets.  I will
keep ferrety smelling things around.  How I love their smells, ears like
dandelions, bodies lily-of-the-valley shrub, and tails the most exotic
Eastern incense.  How far we traveled from the early days of our first
furling Gadzook, who for a short time got something in his water to
attempt to make him smell ferret free!  How fondly I recall over the
course of a week getting nine ferret books in the mail from the King
County Library.  I also shall always remember fondly my long stint as
moderator of the Ferret Adrenal Insulinoma Mailing List, and shall always
be so thankful for our grand vet, Cindy, and many other vets who helped,
on- line and off.
 
Goodbye Minnie our sweet, our little doll!  Mom and dad, Aunty Kate and
Uncle Bill, cousins Monty and Madison, are missing you but glad you are
no longer old and ill.  Be well and give all our love to Lucy, Claudette,
Gadzook, Wally, Tarzan, Petey, Percy, Schroeder Boat, and Squeek (and his
siblings Erb and the two unnamed) and Wellington the cat!  Dance in
white-furred abandon and glee once again our sweety-pie Little Goose!!
 
Momma Lynn and Dad Janos
[Posted in FML issue 3900]