Our sweet little albino boy Brodie crossed the bridge yesterday
afternoon.  I was lucky enough to be there for his final hours.  I'm
not sure precisely when he passed, but I was either holding him at the
time or sitting next to him on the couch.
 
We are not entirely sure what caused Brodie's passing, so we've opted to
have a necropsy done.  He had a very high white blood cell count that
would not respond to antibiotics.  In the final hours I think he had a
stomach ulcer, but there was something else going on.  We would prefer to
bury him with his friends as-is, but I'm hoping that the vets can learn
more by examining him.  And he was such a brave and tough little guy, I
don't think he'd mind.
 
Brodie was a very small guy, smaller than any of our females, but he was
mighty!  We always used to joke that he was a scrappy little Irishman.
His favorite toys were a cardboard box that he would hop in and out of
(it had the perfect wall height to provide him with a challenge but yet
not be TOO high), and he also loved to grab socks and give them a real
good shake.  He also took great delight in biting my feet while I typed
on the computer, he was INCREDIBLY persistant and wouldn't leave me alone
until I got off the computer!  He LOVED chocolate and ice cream - I know,
he wasn't supposed to have any, but he'd lick our lips after we had
some...you'd have to tear him off of you!
 
Brodie was a stray when he was younger, and someone found him and gave
him to our local ferret shelter.  We think he was quite young when he
joined us (maybe 5 months), but he lived with us for 5 1/2 unforgettable
years.  Brodie was the glue that bound our group of ferrets.  He got
along with absolutely EVERYONE, and when we had ferrets that didn't get
along with each other, Brodie was always the one they would choose to
play with.  He was a very busy boy being best-friend to all the ferrets
in our home.  We were very blessed to have such an amazing boy in our
family.  I'm so glad we got to know him.
 
Brodie will join the other members of our original group - Andre, Tasha
and Timone.  I know he's missed them and they will be so happy to see
him.  He will also be met by Jasmine, who Brodie delighted in tackling
(she thought it was fun too).
 
We have a very cute photo of Brodie on our VERY VERY out of date
website...all of the babies shown there are gone now except Jay.  Brodie
was we think 6.5 when he passed on.
http://www.raisinlover.com/rlpage/fuzbios/brodiebio.html
 
Jillian Steffes
 
"In the end, we will conserve only what we love...
   we will love only what we understand...
   we will understand only what we are taught."
            - Lao-Tsu 490 B.C.
[Posted in FML issue 4888]