Hi all.
 
I posted a couple of months ago about my Cassie-girl passing away, but
haven't posted a final update yet.
 
It turns out Cassie had malignant cancer in her pancreas and right adrenal
gland, despite showing only mild symptoms for these conditions.  She'd
been coughing on and off for a couple of months before this (we ruled out
cardiomyopathy, and she didn't respond to antibiotics).  She had what may
have been a stroke on June 29th, but was recovering.  On July 24th she had
emergency surgery for an acute bowel problem (part of her bowel lost blood
supply and had to be removed).  She was awake and comfortable after
surgery, but passed away quietly in her sleep the next morning.
 
My vet suspects the cancer had spread to her lungs, causing the coughing,
and that her lungs may have been shedding blood clots causing the stroke
and bowel problem.  Under the circumstances I believe it was a mercy that
she passed away peacefully and was still in good health and good spirits
till near the end.  If she had survived the surgery she probably would
have faced a painful decline from her cancer.  Cassie would have been 8
years old on August 27th.
 
I believe a few people have posted that their ferrets typically live 10
years or more.  In 20 years of practice my vet has never seen a 10 year
old ferret.  I've only had 3 ferrets, so my experience is limited, but my
first two didn't make 10, and at 6 years old Sammy probably won't reach 10
either, having been diagnosed with insulinoma 1.5 years ago (happily he's
been in full remission, if that's the right term, since having a partial
pancreatomy in April).
 
So my question is, what are the people with long-lived ferrets doing right
that I'm doing wrong?  Is it diet?  Environment?  Genetics?  I'd love to
get more ferrets, but the last few years of worrying over various illnesses
and the grief of losing them after too few years make it a hard choice.
 
--
John Rosloot, Caregiver to Sammy
With loving memories of my dear departed Buddy,
and my precious little Cassie-angel
http://www.cs.uregina.ca/~john/ferrets
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[Posted in FML issue 3185]