Sandee
 
We have another little one that you need to keep an eye out for...her name
was Melissa She loves ferretone and will probably be at the bar.
 
Melissa came into the shelter on August 18, 2000 - a 6 year old chocolate
girl, accompanied by a 5 year old sable female named Dusty.  It seemed that
her family was moving (New Mexico) and although they were keeping the 5
dogs and 4 cats, they couldn't keep the ferrets.  Melissa and Dusty did
not get along with each other and were kept in separate cages.  These two
had been in this household their entire life.
 
Melissa quickly dropped into depression and shelter shock.  Dusty, who we
discovered is blind, adapted marvelously to the new environment.  Melissa
did not.  She dropped weight and appetite waned - and we began forcefeeding
her.  We treated her for possible stomach ailments and began medications.
She hated that and fought me every time I fed her or gave her meds.  We
finally resorted to having a feeding tube inserted, to possibly cut down on
the stress of feeding her.  She hated that too - and now she was grinding
her teeth and pawing at her mouth.  Then she began vomiting after each
feeding - and I took her back to the vet.  A barium series showed a
possibility of a hairball and we okayed her surgery.  What we found was a
mass, that began at the mesenteric lymph nodes and grew around and through
her stomach.  I talked with the vet at length about her long term prognosis
and quality of life.  Based on what they saw, she had possibly 6 more weeks
left, all of it fighting me and that tube.  I couldn't do that to her --
and I gave the okay to euthanise.
 
Melissa was a sweet ferret - she never bit, she would come up onto your bed
at night and sleep with you.  She loved her family and I couldn't replace
them -- a poor substitute at best.  I should not have been the one to make
this decision -- and I wonder if the family would have made a different
decision if they had known that she only had 2 1/2 more months to live.
I believe that the stress of changing environments first triggered her
anorexia, and then allowed the cancer to take over.  She deserved better
than just me and Ernie holding her and quietly talking to her as she left
this place that was once a loving home and went to a place where there
aren't feeding tubes, cancer and medications...
 
Melissa - I am so sorry that you weren't happy in my shelter - but I did
the best that I could for you - and I cried when you left.  I will miss
you -- I know you were here and that you were a good ferret.  Play nicely
at Rainbow bridge and I will see you again.
 
Lisa Leidig, Head Ferret
The Ferret Haven "By-the-Sea"
http: www.ferrethaven.org
Want to help The Ferret Haven By-the-Sea? Register at iGive.com
by cutting and pasting this link:
http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?CID=1236&MID=854
[Posted in FML issue 3225]