I lost my Penny girl this evening. She was almost 9 and had insulinoma plus adrenal. Lately she had become thin and nearly hairless despite all the meds. She came here years ago from the OR Ferret Shelter in a group of 5 "oldies" with Merc, Lacey, Baby, Shockra and 1 severe abuse case named Flash. She was the sweetest one and one of the oldest. The first day she was here she destroyed my upstairs bathroom. On the floor was all the toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc from the countertop, plus all the facecloths and towels from the cabinet, and all the combs and brushes from the drawers. How she did it all, I don't know. In the tub where I keep the water dripping for "ferret showers" was an entire box of soggy tissues strewn everywhere. Penny stood in the middle of the mess....so proud of herself. I called Chris at the shelter and said "I thought you said these were OLD ferrets!" Penelope was always the life of the party! Through the years all the others in her group left for the Rainbow Bridge but she was happy to join another group. She eventually became "grandma" to Tyki, the jet-propelled nutcase baby ferret I got. When he got into trouble with the others in the group Tyki always went to his "grandma" for some love and kisses. He's been the one who has been keeping her warm these last few months. This morning she ate soup, then this afternoon she ate almost a whole jar of baby food...oh how she loved to eat! When I did one of my routine checks on her she was curled up in a blanket under a hammock filled with her cagemates. She felt all toasty warm and it took a few minutes for me to realize that she was gone. I had been holding her a lot lately telling her how she would see all her friends at the Rainbow Bridge soon. This morning I told her that it was okay if she decided to join them, that I would miss her terribly but how nice it would be for her to have hair again and be healthy. She is in the cage now, curled up in a purple blankie that she will be buried in, so that all her cagemates can say goodbye. I am worried about Tyki, he loves her so much. He is an enormous guy now but was always so gentle and careful with her. He seemed to understand how frail she was. My day will be so empty tomorrow. Her care took up a lot of my time....daily bedding changes and baths because she didn't realize when she had to poop.....preparing her meds....spoon feeding her baby food....holding and loving her. I miss her. Nancy in Oregon with her 15 fuzzies [Posted in FML 6276]