Hello all I am writing this with a heavy heart as tragedy has again come to us. Last night in his sleep Willie, our big ole baby lost his battle with insulinoma. So now there are 12. I wanted to take a minute of your time to share Willies story with you. I hope that the lady who gave him and his cage mate Sandy is reading this. Willie came from St. Louis, MO. I received a call from a lady who had found him in a parking lot and already had Sandy that someone had abandoned in an apartment. Her husband would not let her keep them and she called us. We went willingly to pick them up and so they two fuzzies that were homeless came to live with us. The lady had named Sandy but not Willie, named after boxcar Willie the hobo, so we named him. Willie was a big dark chocolate colored boy, weighing in at 3 pounds before he got sick. He was easy going and never fought with any other ferret even though he was a lot bigger than most. He was missing a front canine tooth before he came to live with us but it didn't affect his eating ability. He was such a good natured boy always coming over and laying on his back for a nice belly rub. People were just drawn to him and his big affectionate heart. Willie lost his little siver girl Sandy about 2 years ago. I worried so much that he would grieve himself to death for her but the always resilient fuzzy took up with Ricky a new dump off that we had just got in and the two have remained cage mates until today. Willie lost his site shortly after he and Ricky became cagemates and Ricky always seemed to keep an "eye" on Willie, leading him out of things when he couldn't figure out how to get out himself. A few weeks ago Willie developed horrible diarrhea and I took him to the vet. He recovered from the poopies but was diagnosed at that time with insulinoma and we were told it was not a good diagnosis and his prognosis wasn't for a longer life. We brought him home and put him back with Ricky. Last night he let go of Rickys paw and crossed over the bridge to be with Sandy once again. I hope the lady that gave them to us is reading this so she will know that he and Sandy are together again, she was a very nice person. She is fact the only person that ever surrendered a ferret to us and then called back to check on them. I had a card from her but unfortunately it was lost when we moved to LA. So that is all I have to say, except that my big ole boy will be missed so much. Kim and the remaining 12 fuzzies. [Posted in FML 5907]