I haven't been active on this list since I joined but I would like to thank
everyone for all the information that I have found extremely helpful in
raising my babies.  I had six babies, three boys and three girls, but I
lost one of my girls, Spooky, last week very suddenly.  I'm hoping maybe
with sharing Spooky's story, it will help somebody and their fuzzies one
day, although there is quite a mystery to this story, or so it seems.
 
Spooky and Bear, brother and sister, were my first two ferrets I purchased
from a private breeder in the fall of '99.  They were great choices for
first ferrets as they were always the "laid back" ones as ferrets go -
extremely gentle and sweet, even at a very young age.  They always slept
more than my other ferrets and were somewhat more frailer, too.  I'm not
sure if this has anything to do with Spooky's death, I don't know.  A
week ago this past Sunday, I noticed that Spooky was sleeping for a longer
period of time than normal, and I was a little concerned.  But she got up
and drank some water, went over to the food bowl and sniffed, but shunned
the food and went back to sleep.  After going over everything in my head a
million times, this really was the only sign I had of sickness.  She was
dancing and playing the day before.  The only other thing was that she
would shake a little when I picked her up, but chalking it up to excitement
because she knew she was getting Ferretone.
 
The following day, Monday morning, she was extremely sick - limp and having
trouble breathing.  I rushed her to the vet, but unfortunately she died in
the car on the way there.  My boyfriend tried to giving her mouth-to-mouth
but she was gone.  Other than being extremely upset, I was really
dumbfounded.  I decided to bring her to my vet and ask that an autopsy be
done.  I wanted to know what went wrong, or even maybe it was genetic and
her brother, Bear, had the same thing.  My vet phoned this last Saturday
with the results.  Apparently, Spooky's chest cavity was full of bacteria.
Not her lungs.  Her chest cavity, which was compressing her lungs.  The vet
didn't really have any answers as to its origin, how long she could have
been sick, etc. etc.  Maybe there was a puncture wound to Spooky's chest?
I never saw blood on any of my ferrets ever.  The vet doesn't think it's
contagious but recommends taking temperatures.  Two are due for their
physicals, and two will be going in to be neutered/spayed, so we have lots
of vet visits coming up.  She says it's not hereditary, too, so that eases
the fear I had for Bear.  My vet is mailing me the autopsy results and I
would like to offer a copy to anyone that wishes to see it.  I'm not well
versed with medical stuff whatsoever, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some of
what my vet relayed to me over the phone.  If anyone is interested, please
email me privately: [log in to unmask]  Best wishes to all of you and your
fuzzies.
 
Kathy, Chopper, Bear, Kozmo, Spaz and Tiko.  In memory of my
sweet girl, Spooky.
[Posted in FML issue 3179]