It is with a heavy heart that I write a farewell post for my special gal LOS White Dove of Xtasy. I brought Dove home from the LOS show in 1999. It was the last show trip I took with my ( now angel) friend Jeanne S. In fact Jeanne was the one who chose White Dove over her sibling. I pray today that Jeanne has White Dove in her care, I miss them both very much! White Dove was SUPPOSED to be my breed jill for a DEW line... but she became my million dollar ferret. AS she began to grow she got thin, very thin - she was fast as a shot and into EVERYTHING in the world. But she got lankier and lankier adn she was robust when I first got her. Eventually I begged the vet to do an exploratory as she had an intermittent cough as well adn I suspected soemthing had been ingested. Sure enough the exploratory surgery brought out 3 Large long pieces of fleexible rubber which resembled hair curlers. How she ever swallowed them adn managed to live with them we were amazed. Now I do NOT ever use curlers and certainly had not ever seen anything like that she came with them-- or on her first night in my care stole them from one of the other gals I was rooming with. Shortly after the surgery she blossomed again.. a gorgeous gal but it was apparent she was not hearing enabled-- so afraid to breed her and have her not hear her babies crying she was spayed to live a jolly life. And that she has! At 7 yrs she started showing thinning coat and coarse hair so we started her on melatonin implants and every 4 mos she got a one month lupron depot. I am pleased to say she left this world with the award winning coat she had when I first met her.... but alas there was more to her leaving than adrenal issues. I will have the full results on Wednesday- she is having a necropsy today and that will be a good resource for her vet and the new vet that will be treating ferrets at the hospital. After all White Dove did come from an educational environment. Several months ago after she turned 8 she started having, mild episodes which I assumed were insulinoma. she was fed turkey & poultry more often than before and maintained well until 2 weeks ago, then the episodes became more often and more intense. There was not the insulinomic actions though rather more neurolgical ones. Dove developed a tick which she had most of the time but it got worse.. she seemed to respond to feeding and then I would give her a small dose of pred. Llast week we started the doses of pred daily. Today I went to her cage and found she was having another episode and evidently she had had others earlier-- as her bed was soiled and dirty... so she had no control during this episode now. I started the usual feeding of turkey and pred but over a half hour later and she had more ticking of the head, her eyes seemed not to be focusing and then her tongue started shooting in and out -- something I have only seen in a several spinal fracture before. SO I picked her up and held her close and told her things were going to be all right. I promised her she would get better and I would be with her.. and the long ride ensued. I suspect the necropsy will reveal there was lymphoma at bay... and I pray she is feeling much better and is happy now. Please find our Jeanne little Dove and tell her to save a place for me when it is time... Gosh this never ever gets easier.... and I find i have not a single photo in the computer..... I wish I could have shared! Alicia D. [Posted in FML 5713]