The lights on the kingdom dimmed yesterday afternoon as we received word that our smallest girl, BonBon, passed quietly on the OR table from what turned out to be metastisized cancer "everywhere". She was 6, our smallest mitt (always hovering at a petite pound and a quarter to pound and a half), and our "ambassador" girl. There wasn't a critter in our household that she didn't accept immediately as a buddy and playmate. Every new fuzzie that came to us in the last few years was immediately greeted with enthusiasm and open paws! She was a true gem, and she fought her adrenal and insulanoma maladies with the strength of a Blue Whale. In later days, after losing most of her once luxurious coat and taking on a rather "punkish" look that only a true ferret lover could ever appreciate...(and looking rather like a naked mole rat), she slowed a bit, but not that much...her playful demeanor never faltered. The morning wrastle in the bed and evening tustle on the carpet were eagerly awaited and she was still often one of the first out of the cage gates. She was a "Bandit" junkie (and in end stage, as we pretty much knew it was...why not...), nosing out the "bad boys" in the business for "hers" as often as not! The daily pred doses got higher and higher over the last year, the balancing act ever narrower, eventually reaching a point where we had to finally make the decision to go in and see what was up...she had had two prior cryos and a third was risky in her state...but we felt that letting her go under anasthesia if the situation dictated was far better than watching her "fade under the lights" at home hospice. The cancer had spread everywhere to the point of no return...so we let her go at 1430 yesterday afternoon. Our vet scrubbed out to call and make sure it was OK and that it was the right decision to live with. Yesterday evening, in a sunny spot under a Cottonwood tree in our yard, the warm earth received our Little BonBon as she begins her journey to the "Bridge" to take up station with Bubba, Blizzard, Beeper, Casio and Cindy. Sandee...welcome her as you did the others and roll with her in this time of high summer grass and cool streams. For we are now seperated but for a single breath...a single whisper..... Here's to feathers in the air, fins in the water and furry tails in the grass! Putorius, CP and Bodie, Bounder, Brando, Bopper, Bonnie, Clyde, Bumper and Wingnut! [Posted in FML issue 4197]