Sandee,
 
I know that you are so busy these days, but I find myself again needing
your help.
 
Yesterday was my birthday, and it ended with me watching my neighbors dog
get run over and killed by a car.  He never had a chance.  He somehow got
out of the house while his owner was gone.  He was following me while I
was walking our dog, but since he was loose, and skitish, there was no
trying to catch him.  He stepped out in front of a van, and never saw it
coming.  It was over quickly. ;(  So, if you have any connections on the
dog side, please have someone keep an eye out for a beautiful Boxer named
Max.  He may be a little lame, but he was a big handsome guy and didn't
deserve to go like that.
 
And to make the b-day weekend even better, we took two of our "special"
kids to see Dr. Katie today.  (Sat) Nico came to us in May of 2001 along
with one sister Ashley and brothers Pico, Ren, Mario and Leo.  All of
them have long since passed to your side, and I'm sure will be glad to
see him again.  Nico went to a "forever" home, but came back to us in
June of 2003, and it was aparent that he would spend the rest of his days
with us.  When he left the shelter, he was a big beautiful Black Sable
boy, who's only problem was a long healed broken toe.  When he came back
into the shelter in '03, he was blind and insulinomic.  While we were
glad to see him again, we knew it would only be a matter of time when we
would have to let Nico go.  Recently he was having more siezures, losing
his balance and motor functions.  He had to be cleaned every time he went
potty, and had very little dignity left.  It wasn't hard to see that Nico
was uncomfortable with his forced feedings, and wanted to do nothing more
than to sleep.  Today we listened to him, and granted his wish.
 
Along with Nico, will be a little scrawny boy named Cocoa.  Cocoa came to
us in early January of this year, after his owner said she was going to
have him put down, because he was sick and she couldn't afford to take
him to a vet.  She said he had lost his cagemate about 6 months earlier,
and that's when he starting losing weight.  We took him in, and told her
we would do whatever we could for him.  Cocoa was very under weight,
weighing barely 1.5 lbs.  for a 4 year old male ferret.  We could feel
every bone in his body, but his eyes were bright and he seemed very happy
and alive.  We took Cocoa to Dr. Katie, had tests run, x-rays done, poked
him and prodded him, and found nothing remarkable.  We brought him home,
and started feeding him duck soup to try and fatten him up.  He seemed
to take the soup well, but had to be encouraged at times.  But he never
seemed to put on any weight.  He would eat his soup, maybe a piece of dog
food if he could find any, and then curl up and sleep.  He continued to
lose weight, could not walk without falling over, and his eyes were no
longer bright and happy looking.  Whenever we picked him up to feed him
or just to cuddle him, he would now groan and wimper in discomfort or
pain.  Dr. Katie also gave Cocoa a shot, and he left us to go to the
bridge.
 
Please have Oliver, Princess, Burton, Seth, Gabby, Fuzzy, Mario, Leo,
Ren, Ashley and Pico greet both of our boys.  Tell them both that we're
sorry that we couldn't make them all better, and that we loved them both.
Tell all of our babies that we love and miss them deeply...and we will
see them again someday.
 
Dad and Mom
 
Ferret Rescue of Maine
A State licensed, 501c3 Non-profit shelter.
Donate to shelter ferrets by clicking
igive.com/from
[Posted in FML issue 4437]