I know its been a while, but things are really busy at Ferret Haven
"By-the-Sea".  We are fuzzy with ferrets!
 
Timon, our unusual case of adrenals (you may remember he was mounting his
cagemate, another neutered male) had his surgery - it was a malignant left
adrenal.  Its been over 6 weeks and while his behavior has calmed down a
bit, he still bites and mounts - poor long-suffering Pumba.  Separating
the boys makes both unhappy, so we just apply bitter apple to the back of
Pumba's neck - Timon doesn't like the taste.
 
Tigger recovered successfully from his adrenal surgery - he's a 7 year old
male - and he was lucky, too - left side!  His energy level after surgery
is wonderful to see.
 
Kaya was our latest in for surgery for adrenals - she was a very difficult
right side adrenal.  She is going on 6 years old and our 'monkey girl'.
Bounced back from surgery as if she had been out for a walk in the park.
 
PeeDee ended up having exploratory surgery the same day that Kaya had her
adrenalectomy when a routine exam found a hard mass in his abdomen.  PeeDee
is our successful prepucial adenocarcinoma ferret - he had three previous
surgeries to remove this aggressive, malignant cancer.  We feared that we
had not beaten the cancer after all.
 
His surgery showed no signs of recurrance - it was fat - a nodular mass but
no cancer.  He is taking a bit longer to bounce from surgery (he lost his
cagemate Snowball three days prior to the surgery) but is slowly and surely
recovering.
 
Silk had a bad spell about a week ago - her seizures began again and we
wonder if something in her environment might be triggering them.  We don't
want to increase her dosage of phenobarbital unless we have to.  Changing
her cage location stopped the seizures....coincidence?  We have no idea.
Her leukemia continues to stay in remission.
 
Our next in line for surgery are Rascis and Dusty - both ferrets are blind
and have insulinoma and adrenals.  Rascis seems to be a bit stronger than
Dusty and will most likely be first.  Both are getting monthly lupron shots
to help control the adrenals.
 
Boy you can tell its summer - the half grown babies(4 to 6 months old) are
pouring in, and the surgeries just keep lining up.
 
My personal kids are doing just great - Sweet Lily has never gotten larger
than a 10 week old kit - everyone that sees her thinks she is a baby!
Kavik, her brother, is more than twice her size but very, very dumb.  Both
just passed their 1st birthday...Jagerine (Diana) continues to rule the
cage and Buster her brother is just hoping for a bit more room in the
hammock.They are turning 4 in September - I can't believe I've had these
two for that long - time flies!  Dijon, my oldest ferret is turning 8 in
October.  Other than failing eyesight and a little slowing down, she is
doing just fine.  She used to be a silver mitt and has roaned into a DEW
with a black nose!  Thankfully all are healthy in my crew.
 
The rest of the ferrets here - Blossom, Leah, Little Foot, Petry, DB,
Angie, Casey, Bandit, Chief, Bear, Pogo, Dulce, Patty, Rosie and Basil
are also looking for new homes - we have every color of the rainbow from
Albino/DEW to black sable...some of the kids here do have special wants
and needs (we have quite a few bonded pairs for instance), so please take
the time to see if you have room for 'just one more'.  We are located in
Southeastern Virginia and don't ship our ferrets.  Thanks from everyone
here!
 
Lisa Leidig, Head Ferret
The Ferret Haven "By-the-Sea"
www.ferrethaven.org
[Posted in FML issue 3483]