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Whilst Death May Come for All, Still I, Myself, Will Kick Him In the Nuts

Vimes, my ferret, who has been the only constant in my life--the only one that I felt I knew completely and totally was in my corner and would agree that whatever I decided to do would be the right thing--for seven years, has developed a cataract in his left eye. I noticed it today when I checked him over since, after an overnight trip to stay with his auntie, he's not ventured below the second level of his cage.

A cataract in the eye of a seven and a half year old ferret is not a big surprise. Hell, it's not a little surprise. It is, in fact, a statistical probability. He's half a year late, which is almost surprising since his $1500 vet outlay (which all ferrets seem to face at some point) was for a sebacious tumour that wouldn't have been more than $800 or so if I wasn't a coward that refused to acknowledge that a spider bite goes away after a month or so. Sebacious tumours are one of the most common ailments for ferrets. Next to cataract, apparently.

I got Vimes from a pet store in a Surrey mall. Not a breeder. And he was already six months old, not 8 weeks. He's been a perfect little pet. Everyone agrees that he's the sweetest, calmest ferret they've ever met. This is probably because I'm a very impatient person and he's an exceptionally smart little weasel (case in point : no interest in chewing on powercords, though he does love plastic rubber). He learned from me that I'd give him all sorts of attention if he could manage NOT to do something I didn't like.
I've never been happier with a pet, or more ashamed that I haven't been better as a pet owner, than I have been with Vimes.

And now I know he's getting old. And that he's not going to be one of the few magic ferrets that live to fifteen that make up for those poor ones living less than the average of 7 - 10 years.

So my philosophical point of the moment is, fuck essentialism, existentialism, humanism and deism. Fuck you all 'til I get a handle on ontology so I can manage Space and Time and figure out how to get back my little baby ferret that hid in my couch.