It is with a very heavy heart that I let you all know that my Dan left for the bridge on the 25th of October. Until now, I have not felt up to letting anyone but CJ know. Dan was a huge lump of love that I drove from Reno to Las Vegas to adopt from CJ in December of 2000. I had just quit a horrid job at Yesco here, and I needed a positive spot in my life. My husband agreed and we made the trip in two days, one down and one back. Dan was called Big D, but we gave him a more formal name of Daniel. He became "My Dan" at some point, and he was MY lump of love. He followed me around the house with his big bellied gait. He didn't move fast, but he was determined. He was the most laid back ferret I have ever known, quite the lap hound. He was my meat eater too, any kind, he didn't care. Dan was found to have insolnomia in April, and once on pred he did fairly well. He crashed a few times, but he always came back. He was not a real strong ferret, he had some intestinal infections and gut infections now and then that required antibiotics. His spleen was also huge, and we watched that. He stopped eating on Thursday evening, he went to the vet early Friday morning. His spleen was huge, and when a needle aspiration was done it showed cancerous cells. An ultrasound showed a blockage in his gut. Our vet felt it was a growth of some sort. Neither of us felt that Dan was strong enough for surgery. We opted not to put him through that and held him as he left us. I still cry as I write this, I miss my Dan. I was and still am so thankful that CJ let us have him. He was a wonderful ferret. Kim and the now 6 missing Mort, Pearl, Murphy, Moe, Molly dog and my Dan [Posted in FML issue 3960]