I want to first of all update everyone who has been kind enough to e-mail me with their prayers and best wishes for my Rusty. I have answered many of you personally but I know I had to have missed a few people. Rusty is gaining weight and doing fine. We are getting him ready for surgery in September at the earliest. He is not eating his gravy as much as he was in the beginning so I am going to have to keep a close eye on this. He needs his gravy and his kibble to gain the weight back he lost. He is also resisting me tooth and nail when it comes time for his Prednisone. With him there simply is no way to give it other then by a syringe in his mouth after prying his jaw apart. I have tried it every creative way I could and he will not take it: PERIOD. He hates when I pick him up because he knows 1 out of the 10 times I do he is going to get his meds. Even when he gets a positive reinforcer like Ferretone afterwards he still hates that stuff. I make sure he eats before or after he gets it because I am aware that it can cause tummy problems. Poor guy. Now he is going to be getting Lupron shots as well. He will never love his mommy again as he associates me with pain and torture:-( Now for the Maltese ferret pennies. First of all I thank everyone that bought these unique pennies from me. Believe me when I say that the funds went directly to Rusty for his meds and is being put aside for his upcoming surgery. Troy Lynn suggested I bring him to Kansas and let her vet do the surgery and this is looking like more of a possibility. It just depends on many factors. Either way he is going to have to have the surgery. Second of all I wish to say that the response to these coins has been phenomenal and I was not prepared to be mailing out as many coins as I did. Some of you got/will get them very shortly as I just finished mailing out the last of them yesterday, the 8th of August. I quit taping them as I was informed by a customer that it made a sticky mess. I also quit cleaning them with Brasso as I was informed that this takes away the value and life of the coin. So when some of you get 'dirty' coins do not think I was mad at you. I am just going to leave the cleaning decision up to you. Live and learn:-) I hope everyone is satisfied with these little treasures. They did indeed come all the way from the island of Malta and they came primarily from family members. Thirdly (is thirdly a real word??) I have more coins left over to sell if anyone is interested in acquiring a few extras. Muna's Treasures is handling an auction for me on eBay and I put up 25 coins to be auctioned. They went lickity split so I am going to inform anyone that did not win and still wants one to contact me directly. Once again I thank you all for your encouragement and support. Give those ferrets a big hug and an extra treat today. They sure do deserve it. Diane [Posted in FML issue 3870]