Regina

On July 4th, a coworker of Stephanie`s was having a barbeque in Kirkland.

Her daughter was bringing "Roger"--the ferret they didn`t want anymore.

Stephanie picked up the ferret on her way here to volunteer. The people were just in a rush to get rid of the ferret--they didn`t want to answer any questions about Roger`s food, favorite playthings, etc.

When Stephanie arrived with "Roger" I knew immediately that "he" was a girl---and very badly adrenal at that... (Stephanie said she had thought he was a girl too, but didn`t want to look while there--the people were in such a hurry to stuff the ferret out the door and get back to their barbeque...) I guess they thought that huge, swollen vulva was testicles. "Roger" also had a large mast cell tumor on her neck.

Roger didn`t know her name, so we tweaked it to "Regina". She was very fragile.

She got lupron and was put on pet tinic for the anemia. She had been sick for a very long time. She improved some--enough to walk the room and enjoy soup--but never really got well. The tumor had spread to the kidney. She showed no pain. We hospiced her. She loved the room and enjoyed being with the Sweet group. She loved to be held and stroked.

Yesterday, November 3rd, 2004, she didn`t want her soup. She was very, very pale and weak. Knowing this was it, I administered pain meds (just in case she was hurting, somehow). When Darla and Gregg left last night at 9-9:30, she was sleeping comfortably. She continued to do so, until almost midnight, when she left this earth. It went smoothly and peacefully for her. Her little body just slowed to a stop.

Regina was a gentle cuddler, who never missed her box until the last couple days. She got along well with the others and loved it here. I strongly suspect that she spent most of her life in a cage. I wish we had gotten her sooner...

Love, Zoo