Puffy was an albino male. For his first 5 years we thought he was a female... ahem. I'm hoping I'm not the first to have made that mistake. We discovered this very embarassing detail when he had x-rays. Males have a "special bone." Yep, we're ferret experts, alright. Even now, I have to backspace and type "he" all the time. He had a little stuffed bear which he would carry and put back in his cage, usually in the food bowl. We thought he had very good motherly instincts. Apparently, he was a good father. When we buried Puff's body at Josie's mountain, we put his bear under his arm. During the last 8 or 9 months, Puff had insulinoma. He lived on meat baby food and Nutrical, along with Pred. On the 29th of last month, Puff started having problems breathing. We got him to the vets the next morning. Our doc did some x-rays and found out that Puff had something in his lungs. He wasn't sure if it was fluid or a mass in his lungs. It turns out it was both. The vet could have stuck a needle in her to find out what it was, but my wife and I thought Puff has suffered enough. My wife and I had to make that hard decision. We let him go. Afterwards, the vet drew some fluid out of his lungs which turned out to be blood. It turns out that Puff probably had a mass in his lungs which had probably burst. There was nothing the vet could have done to fix it. It had probably metasticized from the insulinoma tumors. Puff had earlier undergone insulinoma surgery, but there weren't any visible tumors, just micro-tumors which couldn't be removed. The vet removed some other suspicious tumors that he found, possibly lymphomas, and that probably prolonged Puff's life. He was a really smart ferret. We're going to miss him. My wife still thinks of him as a "her" and so do I, if I admit it. He was named after the Powerpuff Girls (Powerpuff was his/her original name, but we ended up calling him Puff). We named "her" that because, unlike most ferrets, instead of just jumping straight down off the couch, he would take a running leap with his front arms stretched out and fly off the couch! He would play chase, and we would alternately take turns chasing each other throughout the house. He had lots of spirit, and it was painful to see him slow down from the insulinoma. He lived about 6 and a half years. We're really going to miss him. I guess that's what took me so long to post this. Would one of you greeters make sure that he's met Deezel up on the bridge? Deezel (a true female) was his cagemate for the longest time, until she passed almost two years ago. I'm sure she knew he was a male. They've probably already been snickering about how clueless we'd been. Could you make sure Deezel shows Puff where the red licorice is? They both liked cherry and strawberry licorice. Puff hasn't had any for such a long time, and now there's no reason not to. Lately, I see lots of Puff in Jasper, another albino male of ours. He likes to fly, too. Whenever I think about it, at times, I alternate between laughing to myself and tearing up. Anybody watching me might think I had psychological problems -- no, just ferrets. I guess that's just what they do to you. Damn weasels... http://us7.50webs.com/puff.htm Roary and Yvonne Albuquerque, NM [Posted in FML issue 4837]