Angel Meets Doc

As I've mentioned before, I'm lucky enough to live in a town with access to the vet who literally wrote the book on ferrets. Angel had her first visit with Dr. Rossi today. She's been proclaimed healthy, except for a bit of anemia, a few ear mites and being terribly thin. Dr. Rossi agreed that this, along with the hair loss are the result of fleas, stress and malnutrition rather than any disease. All her organs are good, no internal parasites, swollen lymph nodes or other problems. She was sent home with some drops for her ears and an iron supplement to help boost her up faster.

The big surprise however - turns out that she is NOT a baby! Based on her teeth, Dr. Rossi estimates she's about 3! (He said she could possibly be a bit younger and just have some excessive wear due to her conditions, but still no younger than 2 or 2 1/2!) She only weighed in at 1 pound 7 ounces - and while she'll gain weight, it seems she is just an extremely petite little flower of ferret femininity!

I'm still willing to bet that once she's gained a bit more weight and energy she's going to give the boys what-for!

Do You Believe in Miracles?

Since losing my little Finn Tuesday, I've been forcing myself to try to maintain some semblance of normalcy - going to knit night, going to the quilt show, etc. Saturday, after sleeping in a bit (quilt show did me in) I straggled up to the knit shop where the usual group was in and out. Nothing out of the ordinary unless you count that I'm sitting there feeling rather blah. Until Mary left.

Now there was nothing extraordinary about Mary's departure, she was going home, I think she said she had plans with her husband. A short while later, however, the shop phone rang. I wasn't paying much attention until Kathe was standing next to me saying "Here, I'll let you talk to her". Mary was on the phone. "I know it may be too soon, but I wanted to call you..." Her neighbor across the street had a stray ferret in their yard!

I rushed home, grabbed the crate, a baggie of ferret food and some treats and headed over. Mary led me across the street to where her neighbor was waiting. There, next to the bowl of cat food, was a thin, weak, dehydrated baby girl ferret! The poor thing had fleas, and had lost a good bit of the fur from her back, so she had been on her own for a while. From the way she shakes when she's first picked up, I suspect maybe she fled from a not-so-good home life.

She's been named Angel, and everyone seems to agree that somehow Finn had a paw in bringing us together. Right now Angel (and her remaining fleas which we're working on getting rid of!) is quarantined upstairs until she gets a bit stronger. Food is disappearing at a rapid rate, and she's already made tremendous progress - her eyes are brighter and she can make almost a full circuit of the bathroom without falling over.

Do you believe in miracles? I do.

And then there were three

At 12:33 this morning, my little Finn, my Finny McFinnweezul, my well-behaved gentleman ferret scampered across the Rainbow Bridge to freedom. May you have a neverending supply of places to stash snacks little buddy. There's an empty ferret house in my living room and an empty place in my heart.