Molly left us Friday afternoon. When I came home at noon to check on her and feed her she had her little head propped up on the cage door as if she was watching the door (Molly could not see) so she must have been listening for me. I took her out of the cage and placed her on another blankie on the futon while I changed the soiled ones in her cage. I warmed her recipe and got her Duphalac for her. She took the Duphalac (used to pull the ammonia into the intestines when kidneys aren't working properly - human prescription medicine for constipation) but just let the recipe drip out of her mouth. She raised her head once and looked up at me then laid her head back down and stretched out. I kissed her gently on the top of her head, ran my face along the length of her body and gently petted her from head to tail. I told her it was o.k. to leave us. By the look of her gums and paw pads she was quite pale so I suspect internal bleeding, which in my understanding is a gentle way to go, they just get so very tired and then drift off. I sat cradling and caressing her for a few minutes then I put her back in her cage. When I came home that evening she was gone and had not moved out of the position she was in when I left. She must have died shortly after I left. It was a blessing for us both that her leaving was gentle and she saved me from having to make "the decision". DISTEMPER ALERT - LAWRENCE KANSAS A couple adopted two ferrets from the Lawrence shelter exactly 14 days ago. They had the ferrets vaccinated the day they got them. One of the ferrets became sick 4 days after being adopted. His eyes and ears were secreting pus and the vet thought he had an infection so she put him antibiotics. He responded immediately to antibiotics but as time progressed he became worse. Yesterday his head and feet were swollen, eyes swollen shut, paw pads crusty, and he was loosing hair around the face area. The vet confirmed by symptoms and visual diagnosis it was distemper. The couple took the ferret back to the shelter and the vet there euthanized him. They were also told that the shelter had distemper and they had lost several animals recently. I will be contacting the shelter this evening to find out if it is distemper or parvo they have experienced and question them as to why they took the ferrets (or any other animal for that matter)in the first place if they knew they had distemper in their facility. Also they are under the impression that ferrets "carry" rabies as skunks do and that they are born with rabies. I have contacted them before regarding the rabies issue and sent them 2 or 3 packets of information, which obviously went directly into the trash. If anyone else would like to contact the shelter and "inform" them on the dangers of distemper and/or the ferret and rabies issues you may write or call the Lawrence Humane Society Inc, 1805 E 19th Street, Lawrence KS 913-843-6835. Looks like we can use all the help we can get on this one. Adoptions - I have several listings for ferrets for adoption (3 pairs actually) so if anyone in our area is experiencing the ferret math virus please give us a call (913-456-8FFS). Hugs to all. tle [Posted in FML issue 1876]