I am still reeling in shock at how quickly his illness progressed and how it took only 3 full days from getting a red flag alert to burying him

As some of you might now, Angus had adrenal gland disease (AGD) and had a Suprelorin implant inserted into him a year ago. He was doing great after his hair grew back and seemed his usual self – rearranging the Ugg boots and my Ugg slippers, doing his weasel wardance on the bed with his usual bouncy enthusiasm, dragging the bathmat into the sitting room and washing my face with ferret kisses every morning. He was really was such a funny little character!

Well I hang my head in shame

For the past 17 years I haven’t had any problems with my ferrets’ teeth. In fact, my vet has always complimented me on the great condition of all my guys’ teeth so when Seamus stopped eating his kibble, it never occurred to me that he might have problems with his tooth, or teeth even!

I wrote about Seamus’ glaucoma a couple of months ago and for those of you who didn’t read the article, you can see his blind right eye again in this photo …

My brave little old lady lost her fight and died on Friday morning

I honestly thought she was going to be with us for longer, as she was so active when she was up. She used to power walk around the house, so fast that I had to scurry to keep up with her if I was trying to give her her medication or smoothy.

It was a week ago today and I really thought I was going to lose Kahlua!

I was taking her to see the vet in the afternoon so around mid-morning, I went to get her as I’d prepared the smoothy for her to drink. She was lying under the cover of the hammock and when I pulled it back, I saw her doing the same as she did on Christmas Eve. She had her lips back in a grimace and was breathing rapidly and it was very shallow.

This is a good article about what to look out for if you suspect your ferret has caught swine flu and it also gives pet owners advice about other animals and the H1N1 virus so well worth reading.

We had a number of deaths in Australia during our winter just gone and the authorities came out with an H1N1 vaccination at the end of winter.

When asked why they were urging people to be vaccinated now, in spring, the answer was that they reckon that next winter will bring an upsurge of cases and the virus could kill a whole lot more people.