Dear folks; Hopefully you all had a very good Christmas. My Christmas was wierd. My son hosted this year and present opening time and dinner was very nice. He appreciated the cappicino machine I bought him & made some for everyone. He got called away for a couple of hours due to someone needing their furnace fixed fast, he's a certified heat & a/c person, but he returned sooner than he thought it would take. In the evening he & his wife & new daughter (11 mos.) went to pick up an aunt from the airport so I went home to feed & clean. What I didn't mention to anyone was in the morning Mr. Spaz looked very tired. The last night before he didn't want to eat very much. I had just thought I hope he makes it thru Christmas. When I was feeding him he only ate about 10cc, he usually has 30-40.. He was definite in refusing more food, so since he was cutting down the ammount of food he would accept the last couple of days as well, I received the impression that he wanted to leave. I guess after 6 months of hand feeding that started with the flu, and 6 courses of 4 different anti-biotics, he was just tired of the routine. I had even tried B17, human gamma gobulin, and B12 with no positive results. He ate nothing but the recipe I syringe fed him for several months now. As the evening wore on, his temp was dropping so I put a heating pad in the tray under his cage & called Dayna for advice. Seeing him goto the side of the cage without the pad, it seemed definite he wanted to go. I only hoped he would not be in pain as it was 10pm, Christmas night. He made it thru the holiday, and while I was holding and stroking him at 10 minutes past midnight he no longer blinked his eyes, and becoming still I saw him not breathing. I was quietly thankful that he did not have seizures or cry out in pain as I've heard some people have experienced. He was 4 1/2 years old, a MF ferret. My son was over this afternoon & we laid him to rest in a nice green area of the grass. I was remembering today how he romped with Sadi like they were attached by an invisible cord, her nose right by his left shoulder:) I'm now at having 8 ferrets in the house, but at the same time it seems empty somehow. Gary & the gang of fur Timmy's web site=<http://www.concentric.net/~Gferret/>; He's the ferret totally healed from "terminal lymphoma" without drugs.:) AOL instant messenger name= garyferret :)/ ICQ#4461104 [Posted in FML issue 2167]