Dear Sandee, Over a year ago you greeted the first of our ferrets to cross the Rainbow Bridge, Smokey. You even checked up on her near her bridge crossing anniversary this June, finding her supervising a crew of diggers at a dirt mound. Now her best friend, Pirate (Rat to the FML'ers), has come to take up residence. On Sep. 17, Rat was taken to the vet in an extreme amount of pain. I found him that morning whining with every breath and bloated beyond comprehention. He had adrenal surgery on Aug. 16, and we thought he had recovered from the bladder infection that followed. In reality, there wasn't a bladdar infection exactly. Cancer in his splene and pancreas had spread to his bladder and formed a mass the size of an egg; he was always fat, so nobody new until he was in a lot of pain. We faced the floods here in Franklin, NC , from Hurricane Ivan (If you get TV up there, we got hit the worst with storm damage). The vet had to cut himself out of his house/yard with a chainsaw to come to his office to see Pirate, but he came ASAP. All Pirate wanted for the last few hours of his life was for me to hold him; that was the most precious memory I have. Please find Pirate a position as a soccer/football coach, for that was his favorite activity. Rat is a gray roan with a white head and tail approx. 6-7 years old. Thank you! From: Lori and the Brats (was Lori and Rat's Brats, but...) [Posted in FML issue 4644]