Hello fellow fuzzy lovers,
 
I suffered the loss of my first and only beloved ferret friend this past
weekend due to a complication with a cancer no one knew he had.  It started
Saturday morning when he went to a corner in my kitchen to use the bathroom
(litterbox lazy at times) and the stool was black and tarry and the puddle
was mostly blood; he continued to pass blood in this manner many more
times.  I was at the vet later that morning and he passed within 1 1/2
hours of arriving at the vet.  This vet worked very hard to get him stable,
but he never came back.  He actually died on the table in the room a few
minutes after they had brought him in (hooked up to oxygen and with a
catheter in his leg) for me to see how bad he was getting and to make 'the
final call' on whether to keep going.  I think his kind little soul just
passed on at that time in order to prevent me the heartbreak of having to
tell the vet to take him off the machine.
 
A partial autopsy revealed several abnormalities (of which he said he had
never seen before in a ferret,) however due to a lot of internal bleeding,
the vet was unable to confirm for me exactly what killed him.  (He
described an unidentifiable mass <maybe tumor; not sure> around one kidney,
and behind the bladder <he said it actually looked like two bladders>.) His
best theory at this point is that there was a tumor that had been growing
and that it eventually ruptured the main artery to his heart and this
caused the internal bleeding which actually killed him.  The vet told me he
might write this case up since he'd never seen these unusual things inside
like he saw on Noah.  He is sending some samples out to be tested in hopes
of obtaining additional information; this was the first ferret this vet had
ever lost.
 
Needless to say, since Noah was an only child, my place is quiet and solemn
now; I miss him terribly and this morning while I was getting ready for
work, I thought I heard his little bell tingle from undernearth my bed.  He
turned 5 in July and, according to my vet, that's pretty old for a U.S.
bred fert.  He was telling me about European ferrets and how much longer
their life expectancy is and the incidence of cancer and medical problems
is generally less with the ones he has seen.  I want very much to get
another fert, likely two, but I am also concerned about future vet bills
(Noah had several expensive problems throughout the course of his life) and
about the shorter life-expectancy of the common ferrets sold in the States
today.  Has anyone ever imported ferrets from outside the country?  How
much trouble is it?  Do you know of a reputable breeder in Europe or
elsewhere?  Also, might there be any small breeder in the States that have
a better track record on healthy and long-lived ferrets?  I was told due
to Noah's two small, blue tatoos on one ear that he was a Marshall Farms
ferret; is this true?  Unfortunately, I don't have time to keep up with all
the postings on here, so forgive my ignorance if this is commonly known.
 
Any recommendations on breeders or out-of-country options would be greatly
appreciated.  I live in an apartment and am gone during the day; ferrets
are the perfect pet solution for me Noah had a sweet, kind soul and seemed
to love all forms of life, whether they be human, canine, feline, or other;
he will be greatly missed.
 
Thanks for listening,
Kim
[Posted in FML issue 3186]