We had to put this brave fighter down saturday morning.......
 
PeeDee was picked up stray in the wilds of Suffolk, VA.  When I drove out
to get him, the people that found him would only say that he had a growth
on him....the growth turned out to be a huge tumor on his prepuce.  It was
the size of a silver dollar and had abscessed.  I took him straight to our
vet -- and the surgery to remove the tumor was performed the next day and
we biopsied the tumor.
 
The results were devastating: Prepucial adenocarcinoma - an aggressive,
malignant cancer.  He was given a poor outlook and his life was measured
in months.  We decided to be as aggressive in treating the cancer as the
cancer was itself - and had two more surgeries to remove the cancer.
PeeDee got his name because of the location of where the tumor began, and
that the day we picked him up was a friends' birthday.  He had his last
surgery to remove the cancer more than a year ago, in Sept 2000.
 
PeeDee was a handsome fella - what some may call a typical sable - but I
saw in his eyes the will to live.  And he did - he loved other ferrets
and never fought with any - he was just a good boy.  We tried to find a
new home for him, but it just never happened for PeeDee....he developed
insulinoma early in 2001 and began treating him for that...he took his
meds well and looked forward to them each morning and night.
 
About 2 weeks ago, he just seemed to be down....he was eating and drinking
normally, but his energy level seemed down.  Then we noticed the rattle in
his chest - as if he had an infection.  The vet that saw him was not as
experienced with ferrets as my usual docs and thought (based on xray) that
he may have pneumonia, sent him home with antibiotics.  We were back at
the vets five days later - he was not getting better and we noticed his
lymph nodes on his back legs were huge.  Another set of xrays showed us
the true reason: His cancer came back 15 months after his last surgery...
and went into his lymph system.  His lungs and heart were being pressured
by the tumors.
 
We were monitoring him closely through the week and we saw improvement in
his attitude and that he seemed to be able to breathe a little easier...
but then Saturday morning, he had crashed.  He had no energy and was
having difficulty in breathing - and I couldn't let him suffer - we freed
him from his cancer at 7:05 am, October 27th.
 
I hate every time a shelter ferret dies here - I feel like I failed them
in not finding them a home.  PeeDee was such a good boy and deserved a
good home.  He is a bright star now....and out of pain.  I'm going to
miss ya, big guy....
 
Lisa Leidig, Head Ferret
The Ferret Haven "By-the-Sea"
www.ferrethaven.org
[Posted in FML issue 3585]