I will have to post this publicly and hope she can read this and know she is not alone. I am so sorry for Alexandria. Regardless of how Ping died, he is gone, and now her little Puma too? I cried at this last post because I just went through a similar incident in July- still too recent in my mind and heart. I first want to say that I hold no judgment or even hold her responsible for the accident that took her Ping from her. In July, my sweetest baby that was mine and all mine- he didn't really care for anyone else, but would dance for me and when I scooped him up would anoint my face with as many sweet kisses as I could take, was diagnosed with cardiomiapathy. 2 days later, doing no better on meds he returned to the vet and he found tumors in his lungs and his GI tract, that was not allowing food to pass properly. With the heart issues, and his age of 6 or 7 (not sure exact, since he was unwanted by someone else, which breaks my heart alone thinking that my great little guy was *unwanted!!!!*) he would most likely not make it through the surgery. Did I want his last minutes of his life being cut up? Did I want to try for myself, since I felt like vomiting every time I thought about having to go on without him? My love was too big for me to hold and I had to let him go. Apparently, I was not the only one heartbroken. He had 2 cage mates, and 1 of them decided to sleep a lot, food was not interesting, not even his gooey paste that he loved, or the 'Tone he usually lapped up. Not the A/D, not the baby food, not the duck soup I got from someone on this list, can't remember who, pre-ground and ready for mixing, that he always loved. Nothing. Poops were normal, a few a day, so I was hoping he was eating a little. I tried to finger feed him, nothing. Day 6 after my first guy was let go, I tried to "force feed", and that was spit out- so like Alexandria, I decided that no price was too much to save my guy, so the next morning, I called in to work, and went to get him from the cage with my carrier to take him to the vet for some help or something- and he was gone. Just gone. He didn't want to stay any more, he wanted to be with one of the greatest ferrets to walk this Earth, and I can't blame him-I missed my guy so much too. They were best buddies, cage mates, sleeping pals, and wresting competitors but still I had no idea that he would take is so hard, since they only had a year together, and shared their space with another baby, out-time and cage-time- who slept with them and played with them, and wrestled with the best of them. She is lonely now, and misses a sleeping pal, but her appetite did not drop, nor did she sleep any more than usual, or stop playing- I know because I watched her like a hawk. Still am. These little guys are so intriguing, and I am amazed that one of them can just decide that they are done and want to go be with one who has passed, but it happens. Becky [Posted in FML 6099]