It was over 2 years ago I heard about Dezzie.  An acquaintance had gotten
this 5 yr old bald female from an ad.  She told me how much Dezzie talked
and how she followed her around when she'd let her out of the cage and how
she'd chew and rattle the cage bars when she left her in, sometimes for
days.  I ached for Dezzie.  I knew Dezzie didn't get much time out of the
cage and I really wanted to take her so I could get her surgery and she
could be free roam with our family.  It was over a year but it finally
happened.  Through a set of circumstances Dezzie finally came to me.  I
held her in my lap all the way to the vet and she talked the entire way,
gently dooking and licking and scritching my hands and arms.  Each time I'd
go to put her in the cage her dooking became frantic.  I'd quickly put her
back in my lap.  Dezzie was finally home.  Each evening she'd run to greet
me at the door and dutifully clean away the days troubles.  At bedtime
she'd crawl in the back of my shirt and clean and scritch my back before
we settled down for a nights sleep.
 
Dezzie didn't like other ferrets and would actively, but harmlessly go
after them.  She really never did any harm, except for when she'd pick on
one that wasn't well and then I'd give her a stern reprimand.  She never
did get it.  When she'd go after another, some would turn away but a few
would fight back and she'd squeal as if they were the offender.  Still,
she never learned.
 
While I was in Canada, Cody bit her belly, where she has a swollen mammory
and it swelled even more.  A month ago she had the mammory cyst removed and
seemed a bit more relaxed afterwards.
 
The past month she hadn't come to sleep with me as often and since I'd been
nursing others I thought perhaps that was the reason.  Just last Saturday
night she'd been in my shirt busily cleaning and softly dooking.
 
Sunday she was a bit distant and ran frequently to the potty papers.
Monday she met me when I came home.  Tuesday she did not.  I went looking
for her and she looked terrible, her body was very pink though she wasn't
running a fever, her eyes were red-rimmed and squinty, her stools were
liquid and dark (black/brown blood).  I started her on amoxi, carafate and
pepto even before Larry's instructions.  I alternated every 2 hours with
either pepto or carafate and sometimes every hour throughout the day and
evenings.  She was eating well for me by Wednesday, 20-30cc's at a feeding
about every 3-4 hours, sometimes more often.  But her color was now very
pale even though her stools were now brown and puddingish.  But she was
responding positively.... till this morning.
 
When I got her up for her carafate, her head fell to the side and her eyes
were almost blank.  She stirred at my caressing and each time her eyes
started to fade she'd jerk herself back aware but there was no way she was
going to take the carafate or even her feeding.  In 5 hours she had gone
from very responsive to non-responsive.  Even when I got a drop in her
mouth through clenched teeth she would spit it back out.  I knew.  I told
her how there are some things we cannot change and as much as we don't
want to, we have to accept them.  I wondered if I had gotten up in 3 hours
instead of 5 if it would have made a difference.  I'll never know but I'll
always wonder.
 
I held her close, cuddled, kissed, caressed and told her how very much I
loved her.  I also told her it was o.k. to go.  She didn't want to.  She
fought it with every ounce of strength she could muster.  I gave her a bit
of pain medication and she drifted off to a peaceful sleep.  I kept her
with me for awhile then tucked her into her favorite bed.  As she slept
her life eased away from her.  She was gently taken from this realm to the
next.
 
When I walk through my door tonight and she doesn't run to greet me,
chattering about her day...
 
When it is time for bed and she doesn't climb up to be with me....
 
I'm very thankful that she was with me a little over a year.
 
Please, give your little ones a little extra loving in a tribute to Dezzie,
a ferret that endured too much emotional pain and suffering before coming
to join our family.
 
And please, whatever you do with ferrets, only do what is best for them,
not for any other reason.  Don't let another ferret suffer if you can help
it.  Please...... please I beg of you.....
 
Warm hugs to all. tle
Troy Lynn Eckart
Ferret Family Services
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/5481/
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[Posted in FML issue 3268]