Hello FMLers: Thank you all for your support and love in helping us to deal with the passing of our Ripple. We've received more e-mail than I can count about this, and it's obvious (at least to us) that ferret owners *don't* consider their "kids" to be "just pets". Ripple was the most recent of our children to join us and it doesn't seem at all fair that he would be the first to go. A bit of an update regarding Ripple's cause of death. The vet asked for an autopsy so she could try to determine what had happened, and we agreed. She discovered the problem almost instantly. Ripple had one, single cancerous and enlarged lymph node in his chest, pressing against both his heard and lungs. She theorizes that the stress of the operation, losing 15% of his body weight, etc. aggravatated the node, causing it to swell and force fluid into his lungs. His blood work did *not* show lymphoma, so we had no reason to suspect a problem and, in any event, located where it was it would have been nearly impossible to operate on. It seems it was his time. On Saturday we laid Ripple to rest in our flower garden with his favorite toys and a banana (he loved bananas). The grief is beginning to pass, as we know he's waiting for us not too far away. I'll be updating the web page shortly with Ripple's final pictures. Thanks again to everybody for your support. It's helped a lot. He will be missed. Steve and Colleen Continually Matching Wits with Missy, Newone, Zebulon Pike, Minx, Slinky, and Puck Waiting on the Other Side: Ripple http: www.gate.net/~woodcock/wyrdhaven.html [Posted in FML issue 1439]