Fritz was a rescue from a backyard breeder. Born in 2000, he was about 6 months old when we got him and just full of life. We adored him. His best buddy was Tasha, who he escaped with one night in July 2002 through a hole in the porch screen. We managed to find him but we never found Tasha. Being that he was still so young, and my other two were older, we decided to adopt again. That's when we brought Fiona home. Fritz and Fiona bonded right away. We were dealing with the losses of Max and then Hannah. Sometime toward the middle or end of March, I noticed that Fritz was beginning to put on weight. He ended up putting on almost 2 extra pounds -- obese! We thought it was the dog food he snatched when he was out, so we cut him off of that. Took him to the vet and had complete bloodwork run, which we intended to use as a baseline for the future, and everything showed up as normal and healthy. Just to rule out anything medical, we did X-rays (normal), fecal tests (normal) and urine tests (normal). He was put on a "diet" and we took him outside for daily walks -- alas, the weight didn't go away. He started losing hair on his back and the base of his tail -- classic adrenal. Despite his size we decided to do the surgery anyway, because everything else looked healthy, and we had no reason to think there would be a problem. The left one was cut out, the right was cryo'd, but there was some remaining tissue -- the vet couldn't see everything because of the fat. He said he'd never seen such a fat ferret. He was about 4 lbs. 4 oz. then. Vet checked the pancreas and everything looked fine. Fritz's recovery was a little slower because of his size. With his tender suture area it made it hard for him to pick up his belly and walk, so he kind of half-dragged himself around. Everything seemed to be healing well. We had made plans to go on vacation a year ago, so 11 days after his surgery we left him with one of our friends, one of the most ferret-knowledgeable non-vets I know. (She ran a shelter and rescue for many years.) Thirteen days after the surgery, she took the stitches out. The top half had healed beautifully but the bottom half had not. The internal stomach wall stitches were fine -- it was the outside skin stitches that didn't hold. She had him restitched while we were away. When we came back he had already popped one of the stitches, so I took him to my regular vet last Monday to be fixed up. She glued him shut. By the time I got home one of the areas had come apart, so Tuesday she put him under and completely restitched him. That seemed to hold for the time being. He had also lost some weight -- he was down to 3 lbs. 14.5 oz. But my friend had expressed concern about his eating and drinking habits -- he was doing both incessantly and had huge puddles of dilute urine. Wednesday night I noticed he was panting and it seemed as though he was struggling to breathe. We had the AC on so I got worried and took him to the animal ER. He was kept in oxygen overnight and they did bloodwork -- his blood glucose was 551. His electrolyte ratio from the adrenal surgery was good. I took him back to the vet on Thursday morning and she kept him and reran the blood work. She ran 4 more BGs and none of them were under 350 -- even after a 4-hour fast! He had some infection/inflammation so was put on an additional antibiotic (he was already on amoxi) and also put on carafate. And, rare as it is, she diagnosed him with diabetes. So he was also put on 1 unit of insulin once a day to start. Friday he started the insulin. He seemed perkier Friday and even Saturday he seemed okay. Sunday he was a little slower and didn't want to eat much (although he did munch on some popcorn, his favorite treat). He also seemed to be breathing with more effort. We took him outside and he walked/dragged around. I noticed the stitches seemed to be coming undone again. By the evening he was agitated unless we were holding him and then around dinnertime I noticed his body temp seemed a little low. But since I knew I'd be going in again for the stitches I waited. By midnight he was dead. Sandee or SaraFerret, please help Fritz find Hannah so they can fight over the banana-man toy, and Max so he can wrestle around with him. Let Fritz know I'm miserable thinking he suffered. My heart is breaking because I didn't realize things were that bad. I hate myself for letting him be in any discomfort for any amount of time. I will never forgive myself for what happened. I hope he knows how much he was loved, how much the kids loved him and his daddy and I. How much we will miss him and how sorry I am -- I am SO SORRY my darling! My Fritzy-Ritz cracker. My baby. Amy, Dave, Sarah & Paul (and their gaggle of ferrets -- not giggling today) RIP Ian, Elektra, Claudia, Sidney, Max & Hannah And our newest angel Fritz (RIP 5/28/00-9/5/04) Missing Tasha [Posted in FML issue 4629]