Thank you to all who have sent kind words and e-cards on Murphy's passing. He was my first rescue, although not my first ferret. The first night he was with us, my daughter who was 16 at the time tried to give him a kiss as she does with all of the fuzzbutts. He grabbed on to her nose and dangled. He then had the nickname "Nose Dangler" for quite some time. My husband was on the floor playing with him some weeks later and he must have scared him because he barked. I had never heard a ferret bark before, and I rushed to see what had happened. There is hubby looking as scared as Murphy and he says "I swear I don't know what I did to get him to make that noise, but I didn't hurt him". He then poofed [Murphy, not the husband) Murphy was a MF ferret that somehow didn't get descented. No big deal, he only poofed when he was really scared or one of the other ferrets really pissed him off. Murphy had adrenal surgery two years ago, and when they went to close up the sutures nicked the vena cava. We almost lost him then, but our vet was able to suture the nick and he was just fine. She did make sure she had clamps that were that small within a week. She said she could only think that she would have to call me and tell me that she had lost him on the table. That was not an option. (this is the same vet that sent me flowers when I lost Mort, I do miss her). Murphy lived with us for almost 5 years. He was a good boy, and he is missed so much. I know that the hurt will diminish with time, but we will always have a Murphy sized hole in our hearts. Kim and family [Posted in FML issue 3778]