I LOVE YOU TIMMY :) ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1/2/99.... Sometime after 6 am today, and before 2 pm, Timmy left this world, quietly and without struggle. I had stayed up with him & given him permission to cross for 3 days now. I found him in the big cage where I left him this morning with the rest of the family, in about the same position, limbs getting stiff but his body was still warm, though He didn't have any heating pad under him . My cat Kila had awoken me with persistant meowing, not like her at all... I had started yesterday to tell him to call his mommy, that she'd come and help him find sister Tina that left this last summer. Since I was in Colorado then & away from the house, I had her cremated.. I am thinking of doing that with Timmy so if I ever leave this house (as in sell) I can take the earthly part of him with me. It was a couple of months ago that he was limp like with a low blood sugar episode. The vet found on the x-ray a tumor on his spleen, also on one lung, and the beginning of an enlarged heart. He wasn't eating on his own since then, and didn't want his tonic water any more. (the same tonic that had helped him completely heal of lymphoma some four years ago. ) I hand fed him recipe again like over 4 years ago when he was sick. I began to wonder if he thought his job here was done, or he was needed elsewhere. He didn't want to leave for 3 long days & nights when he was getting very weak. I was givng him permission to leave, which worked with 6 ferrets and my 18 yo Jimmy cat over the last year and a half. Rest in peace dear friend... I'm so grateful to the ones that saved him from harm some 4 years ago when he got out & was found in the middle of the 6 lane road, Apache Blvd. in Tempe, AZ. , without a scratch on him! I told Timmy how his being healed over 4 years ago now helped give hope and life to hundreds of ferret people around the world... His legacy and Tonic live on:) He is survived by Sadi (the last of my 8 "store bought" fur kids), who's over 7 yo, and Terry from Cal., about 3 yo, Olivia who's about 2 & was a left behind by someone who moved to Mich., and Tommy who's about 1 yo and was found at a self store here in AZ. Tommy needs a red cape as he leaps over a two foot high door barrier in one jump.. :) As others have said before, hug your kids a lot, some day they won't be here.... There's probably more that should be said, but my mind is empty for now. It'll take a while to update his web page. If I ever get a break from them leaving I want to put a "remembered" page on Timmy's site. take care, hugs to all, and prepare now for problems that may hit on 1/1/2000 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 or surgery. :) ICQ#4461104 [Posted in FML issue 2544]