About Dave Bear

His favorite places to sleep are the sock nest under K.'s desk, the big plastic container in our bedroom or the toy box we converted into a Hidey Hole. Sometimes he'll surprise me, though, and I'll find him in a ferret pile in the hammock under the bed or sleeping in one of the crinkle tunnels.

Even though he's blind, he gets around just fine. A few bumps into the walls at times. Or a bump into the Thing that mommie put in his path that wasn't there before. But he just good-naturedly finds his way around it.

He hits the potty pad more often than his comrades, none of which are blind.

He knows exactly when it is time for his Duck Soup and comes straight to the kitchen and waits for me. My favorite time of day is sitting with Dave in my lap as he gobbles up his soup and then washes his feet.

He loves boxes. K.'s trash can. And WalMart bags. And "crunchies". And N-Bones. He lets the other guys steal his treats and he just comes back for more. He "hides" his treasures in the middle of the living room floor. We just pretend we don't see them.

He lets me give him his medicine, even though it's yukky. He knows I'm taking care of him. Plus he always gets Ferretone after his medicine.

He's gained a lot of weight and waddles. He's losing his beautiful coat. And he is just so beautiful to me. He shows me unconditional love, because I, too, have have gained a lot of weight and waddle. But Dave doesn't care. I'm Mommie and he loves me.

BAILEY MUST'VE STOLEN MY CALENDAR

Holy Cow, where does the time go?? My last post was in January?? Really??? :::hanging head:::: Aarrrrgghh. Let's update, shall we?

Well. Bailey, my champagne baby who got scalped by Milo, is now a part of the Wildkatz and he and Milo are BFF's. (Go figure) Bailey is the wildest of them all and he loves to find trouble. He loves to sneak in Keith's office, climb up on his desk and knock everything (including the wireless keyboard) off. He also enjoys erasing the greeting message on the business phone and stealing the computer mouse and Keith's glasses. He will attempt to steal the TV remote and it's a game of tug-of-war trying to get it back. He loves, loves to run and quite often we will just see him hauling ass through the house. It's hysterical. He's such a little clown!

Angel, my little girl who had adrenal surgery last November, never regrew her hair (except on her tail). Dr. Dori felt a lump upon examination and suggested a second surgery, which we did. That was just this past June. Turns out Angel was growing a tumor on her right adrenal and bone was forming around it! Weird. Now the little stinker is growing her hair back and she is going to be a beautiful DEW!

Oh, and we went to Shreveport in April for the First Annual Ferret Fun Rodeo. We had a blast! Smokey won 1st Place for Longest Kisser; Bailey won 1st Place in the tube races and 2nd in the bag races; Angel won 1st Place for Smallest Female Ferret; Angel and Smokey took 3rd Place for Opposites: Big and Small.

That pretty much brings us up to date -- at least with the Big Stuff.

But, there is one more Big Thing, and this just happened today. Dave, my blind guy and oldest by estimation, has insulinoma and I've been giving him prednisone for about a year. Lately he's had some hair loss on his back and head, a sign of possible adrenal disease. We felt that he was healthy enough to withstand exploratory surgery to remove the tumors, so it was scheduled for today. Just as they were about to put him under anaesthesia, Dr. Dori noticed Dave kind of choking and she realized he wasn't breathing good. So she did an x-ray and ultrasound and discovered a large mass that is either in his heart or his lungs, which is constricting his breathing.

Needless to say, the surgery was cancelled and she started Dave on Benazapril for his heart and Lasix to help get rid of the excess fluid.

Bottom line: my little Dave doesn't have much longer. And my heart is breaking.