Dear Sandee, I am writing in the hope that you can check on two of my little girls, who recently left for the Rainbow Bridge. Please make sure they get to meet up with Zeus, Chloe, Diamond, Shivvy BaldBum, & Winnie PinkNose. Sneeka-Dook (nee Meeka) was a little rescue girl who came to me during the summer of 2002. By that fall, she was a confirmed insulinomic. We decided that due to her age (estimated at about 7-8 years at the time by my vet), that medication & maintenance would be the best approach. She managed to hold on until this past February 8th. I had left my cat & the ferrets with my sister while I went for a long weekend in Northern Virginia, searching for a job & trying to establish myself in an area school. After four days of endless driving, unmitigated frustration, peeing against the wind, etc., I drove the ten hours back to Mass on 2/8. I felt like life had just beaten the hell out of me, and I was really, really looking forward to seeing my pets again for a little solace. When I arrived at my sister's house, little Stinka was going in & out of screaming seizures. We jumped back into my car to rush her to the vet. Sneeka was euthanized at about 7pm that evening. Gah. My birthday was this past Saturday - February 19th. My sick, elderly grandmother went into the hospital that morning, and there were several other major & minor disappointments & frustrations following that. I went to let the ferrets out for their morning playtime, and noticed that my ancient, blind, antisocial girl Spency didn't come out to play. I didn't think much of this, since she only comes out to play about 1/3 of the time - she was so darn old, and always preferred sleeping over socializing. I put the ferrets back in the cage a little while later, left to visit my grandmother in the hospital, and then went out with my family for dinner in the evening. I came home a little, shall we say, *tipsy*, and basically went straight to bed without saying goodnight to the ferrets. I went to the cage the next morning to say the usual hellos and noticed that once again, Spence didn't make an appearance. I rustled around in the sweatshirts & blankets lining the cage, and found Spencey cold, stiff, & dead in her favorite sweatshirt. I can't be sure of her exact time of death, but given the level of rigor mortis, I would estimate that she probably died at least 24 hours prior. In addition to being overwhelmed with sadness, I just felt like such a loser - my ferret died of no apparent cause, alone, and was just laying there while I was out getting moderately loaded on my birthday. Another kick in the teeth. Sandee, you will recognize little Sneeka by her regal, graceful, black sable little self. Sneeka was the last of my "cookie noses"; ferrets who have mottled dark noses, thus named because the pattern of the nose reminds me of a crumbled cookie. Tell her I'm grateful that she was able to hang on for so long, and bless us with her ladylike manners. Spency can be recognized by her silvery sable fur, and white toe fur. I think she may have been kicked in the face at some point in her life, so she has the appearance of being slightly cross-eyed. She is blind, so she will need a good seeing eye friend to help her around the Fruit Bar. Perhaps these two little old ladies can share a tandem Lark-mobile to get around the Bridge? As an aside, I realize how lucky I am to be on this side of the grass, celebrating my birthday in the good company of family. Whenever tempted to complain about any circumstance in my life, I remind myself that there are earthquake victims in Iran, flood & mudslide victims in California, people suffering from illness, shelter overpopulation, etc. I have it pretty good. I just sometimes throw my hands in the air & say "Christ on crutches! When will it stop???!!!" Jessica L. Manson= 15 Monmouth St. #2 Boston, MA 02128 (781) 718-3885 [log in to unmask] www.whimsyphoto.com [Posted in FML issue 4798]