Hello all, Posting today through tears and with a heavy heart. I had to have my old lady ferret, Zoe, put down today. Only a month ago she was still very chipper and energetic for a 9.5 year old ferret girl, but then suddenly got ill and has been on the decline since despite medications and multiple vet stays for fluids and steroids. I guess it is now her time and after having more than 8 years of her company it is going to feel damn strange and sad to not have her greeting me every time I head into the computer/ferret room anymore. :( At 9.5 she has had a great and wonderful life. I thank Todd and Andi, the rescue folks who I adopted her from, for such a wonderful and enjoyable little companion. It wasn't always joy and pleasure with her, as she was so smart she could do things like show me a fault in a new ferret cage and get out within the first 15 minutes of being inside it, but she had gotten so much sweeter as she got older and especially since she became an only ferret when I lost her buddy Percival (who I had also adopted at the same time as Zoe from Todd and Andi) last April. I will really miss her kisses. :( Last night, sensing that things were coming to a close, she gave me a ton of kisses while I held her closely. Another sad note is that at this time I will probably not be adopting any new ferrets for a while. That means that my 12 year run of being owned by ferrets will come to a close for a while now. Going to be weird not having the little buggers around the house anymore, but within a couple years I figure I'll have the need to go to one of the local shelters and bring a couple new kids home. I am certainly going to miss the folks down at the Horsham Vet hospital at the Lupron clinics. It was so cool to hang around with so many adorable ferrets and great ferret owners each month with no animals of any other kind in the waiting room. Each clinic was such an awesome experience. I am also going to miss my ferret vet Anna Edling. I have followed her to 3 different hospitals during my years being owned by ferrets and she is certainly super awesome and one of the absolute best in the field between her amazing knowledge and her incredible caring and support for her patients and their owners. In September 1992 I got my first ever ferret Loki, and joined the Ferret Mailing list not too long after that time. It has been great seeing all the posts and comments about ferrets and them having fun lives, and sad and heart wrenching to read to continued stream of ferret owners who have lost their beloved fuzzies. I will most likely continue to lurk on the FML as it has become a daily part of my mail reading that I am sure I would miss. Sorry this is so long and rambling, but so many things are changing for me due to the loss of my last wonderful ferret that I just can't and don't want to fully let go yet. Goodbye darling Zoe, you gave me a super 8 years of fun and companionship. You and Loki, Cricket and Percival made life bearable through some tough times for me personally and also some great and wonderful times as well. Unfortunately now I must face this finally sadness without you...:( Butch And the cats George, Kiku and Callie [Posted in FML issue 4499]