Hi everyone! I've been reading the FML for a few weeks now and I finally decided it was time to send something in myself. If I didn't soon it would be way too long to post. Our family consists of three humans and ten animals. Four cats, a yellow lab, a 4ft iguana and my precious four ferrets. My house isn't that big either but I wouldn't trade any of them for the world. It just seems that sometimes we are up to our eyeballs in poop! We just lost our precious Tasha (3 year old female sable) to adrenal cancer two weeks ago. It has been hard. She was our first ferret and we haven't stopped since. She was so special because she was our lover. An angel actually if you can believe that of a ferret. We have had three other females who have gone over Rainbow Bridge. One because of our stupidity. Toby ate a foam earplug. Had surgery done but she only lived one week. Next Riki found an earplug, only God knows where, and she died after surgery also. I switched to digestable earplugs and still worry that one may be hidden from long ago. The third angel, Bean, was with us a long time. We got her shortly after we got Tasha. Bean used up all her lives... She was found bloody in the dryer once(only had a bloody nose) scared us to death. Caught in the sleeper sofa a couple of times and mauled by a cat( we're not sure) after she ,unknowing to us, escaped to the great outdoors. She managed to come home half alive but she pulled through. Her untimley death was brought on because she tried to get between a computer desk and a sewing machine and got caught while we weren't home. Her death was really hard on us because she had survived so much and had just gotten her health back after her attack. Tasha was diagnosed with the cancer last fall and after a period where we thought she would die because she was bald and skin and bones, she perked up grew all her hair back twice as thick and put on lots of weight. We had ourselves convinced that it must have been a mistake. Just a month ago she developed a swollen vulva again. We tried lisodren but either it was too strong or something because she developed internal bleeding and we had to have her put to sleep on June 7 in the middle of the night. I still miss her so much. Okay, now for the good stuff...We got Bubba last November for Tasha as a playmate but he turned out to be too ornery and full of it for her. He was the biggest baby ferret we had ever seen and fell in love with him instantly. Bubba liked to pick on Tasha and with her being 3 and not well, she didn't take to him at all. We just had to find a playmate for Bubba to keep him away from Tasha. Soooo we heard of a ferret for sale on a bulletin board for only $25 cage and all. We rushed to get "Weasey" during a blizzard in January. It turned out that we were his third owner and he wasn't in the best of health. He had an ear infection and some congestion. Plus the people told us he was a girl. Can you imagine!! To try and make a long story short, Weasey wasn't the answer for Bubba either because he is scared to death of everything. We suspect that he might have been abused by the first owner. He "screams" when Bubba comes near. He gets daily doses of smootches and hugs and extra loving all the time to make up for his past. Well...... enter "Emmet" this past April. We took Bubba with us to the pet store and Emmet picked Bubba out. And no I don't have that backwards. Bubba was so big and Emmet actually attacked him!!! We decided right then and there that he was our answer to prayer. He has been, too, Bubba and he are best friends. Now for our latest addition. Last Wednesday I visited the pet store ( which is dangerous for me) to take them some toilet paper and paper towel rolls for their mice and hamsters and there he was all alone in the pen with all the other baby ferrets.(he is almost 6 mo. old) He is Emmet's brother and was never sold from the litter before. I just told myself that no one would probably buy him because he was so old compared to the new babies and all that I just had to bring him home. My husband didn't even blink an eye. After all he should have know better than to let me go alone to the pet store. I mean really what is one more animal anyway. Now just imagine this poor little boy was born on Jan. 30 and spent the whole time in that pet store, he went nuts when I let him lose after bringing him home. He didn't stop for hours. Explored everywhere, didn't even stop long enough for Bubba or Emmet to say Hi, buddie. We named him Mooky and don't ask me why the name just popped into my head...He has adjusted so well to everyone although he is a bit of a biter which we will definately work on. I think Bubba is teaching him to chase the cats....Everyone leaves Weasey alone to his cage( we keep the door open when we are home so he can come and go as he pleases) Weasey is happy, Bubba has two playmates now and Tasha is at Rainbow Bridge and happy, too. I'm sorry this has gotten so long. I knew I should have written sooner. I just wanted you all to know how much we enjoy the daily FML. I print it out and read it at bedtime and relate all the wonderfully hilarious stories to my daughter and husband. Even my non animal friends at work are burdened with the terrific stories. I must admit that I cry sometimes at the sad ones and skip over the boring ones or ones I don't want to read. I want to vote to keep the wedding stories coming. I'm just getting used to the language and I don't have as hard a time reading them anymore. The FML has become a very important part of my daily routine and I would be lost without it. I had fallen into depression from the loss of so many of my animals and am now just starting to pull myself together with help from my therapist and all of you should know that you are helping too with all the wonderful advise and information and especially the stories. The story of the little one with no feet...Foggy... meant so much and I laughed until I rolled from the short's story and the barbequed cat (Odie's escape) story. Please don't change anything. We are loving every minute. Well, now that everyone is totally bored and has scrolled down past my story, I will end. Thanks again to everyone involved. You are making soooo many people happy. God Bless all you fuzzy people and especially all the fuzzies in the world. Hugs and nippy kisses to all. Pat, Steve, Angie,(the humans) Bubba, Emmet, Weasey, Mooky( the fuzz butts), Smokey, Cali, Oreo, Muffin (the cats), Hanna(the dog)and Kermie (the iguana). [Posted in FML issue 1617]