What a journey it has been... close to 15 years my partner and I had a flock of fuzzbutt's who seemed to rule the house. Last Saturday, we said goodbye to our last little girl, Mel, who was 11. Mel outlived all of her brothers and sisters... she was the smallest of them all and clearly had a size complex. She ruled the ferrets, the dogs and the cat, with an iron fist. It was common to find her in the couch, between cushions, just waiting for the cat to come by... surely you would hear a squeal from the cat as she'd run by you with Mel on her back holding on for dear life. I give more credit's to my dogs, who tried to rein her in to no avail. Both of our labs are north of 100lbs, yet she had no problem walking right up to them and dragging their toy away as they'd whimper. They'd bark at her, she'd nip them. They'd paw at her, she'd nip them. When she really wanted to get them riled up, she'd climb in to their water dish and just soak in it. They knew who was boss and she ruled them as if they were her minions and yet, on those really cold nights, I'd find her asleep curled up with them. Although she was 11 and we knew her time was short, we didn't expect her to pass when she did. We put her on the back pool deck while we cleaned her cage... she tormented the cat, as normal and even went on a momentary dig in one of the planters around the pool. She ran around, did her war dances and finally came back inside to crawl in to her cage and started her long nap which would give her the energy to cross the rainbow bridge. You never have a favorite kid, but if we did, it was her... we'll miss having to dig through her hiding spots to find our keys. We'll miss watching her climb up our stairs and then 15 minutes later, watch her climb down them, typically with a shoe in tow. We'll miss the funny noises and goofy dances she'd do when she was excited and more than anything, we'll miss the flood of kisses we'd get from her when we'd rub her back. Some pictures I wanted to share.... This was taken after all her housemates had passed on (I think she was 2) and we got our first dog, a black lab, who until her passing, she dominated at every opportunity - http://i39.tinypic.com/ih4a5j.jpg This was taken when we first brought our new puppy home... if there was a caption for this one, it would read, "Puppy... this isn't going to end well for you!" - http://i43.tinypic.com/2e4eypu.jpg This was taken a few hours before she curled up in her bed and went to rest for her trip across The Rainbow Bridge - http://i44.tinypic.com/30ix3r7.jpg My special and sincere thanks to Bill for managing the FML... you provided us with one of the best resources I ever came across for ferret owners. To all the ferret mom's and dad's on the list who have a fuzzbutt who has crossed The Rainbow Bridge, let me apologize in advance for Mel's behavior. :) Warmest Regards, Jeremy [Posted in FML 6266]