Hello folks - havent had time to post in years, but I read here avidly. I
have two ferrets - one female sable - Tumbleweed, and one male silver mitt
- Celebrindal. Both are convenience kits, about 4 years old, and now
Tumbleweed has a problem.
I havent been playing with them as much as I used to, cause we now have a
baby and I was keeping them separate until Rowan (my daughter) was mobile
enough to play with them herself. I had them out playing at a party in
mid-July, and they both seemed happy to be out and manic. August 20 I was
cleaning their cage before going away for the weekend, and Tumbleweed
climbed up onto my shoulder adn just snuggled. Thinking she just wanted
some attention, I made arrangements to bring the ferts along with us - we
were leaving the baby behind at her Grandparents.
When we got to the G'rents', I took the ferrets out to show some neighbor
kids, and Tumbleweed was lethargic. She was also completely skin and bones
- which I had not noticed earlier in the day. Went over to a local vet,
figuring on buying some nutrical, and the vet found a "lumpy mass" in the
examination. We gave her some subq fluids and went up to Boston to visit
said friends anyway - they had wanted to see the ferrets.
To shorten the story, after a number of tests proved inconclusive, TW had
surgery 2 weeks ago to remove the suddenly golf-ball sized lump in her
tummy - it had grown so explosively that we didnt think she would survive
the weekend if it wasnt removed, dying of her abdomen bursting before the
toxicity of the tumor itself got to her.
The biopsy report came back yesterday - liver cancer. In the meantime, she
is doing fine, bored stiff. She climbs over teh kids-gate we had in one
doorway, as fast as tho it wasnt there - this in spite of the stitches in
her abdomen. We *had* been hoping to keep the ferrets' play area confined
to two rooms on teh bottom floor - oh well. She spent 10 minutes on Monday
hissing at me cause I wouldnt let her steal a package of 450 paper napkins,
and yesterday, when Rowan wouldnt let Tumbleweed steal her bottle (after
two days of TW being successful at it), TW actually bit her on the foot
hard enough to draw blood. TW was, of course, informed that this was NOT
acceptable behavior, even for a convalescent ferret, and put back into her
(solitary) cage. Fortunately, 'brindal is a large bumbling idiot, and Rowan
didnt seem to transfer any anger/fear to him... she *does* run away from
Tumbleweed now, and keeps her bottle well above her own waist level when
the ferrets are out.
I live in NJ, and am going to the Raritan Animal Hospital - they and their
associated satellite clinics have taken care of my ferrets, and Tigger's
before me, (Hi Tigger!) for 10 years now, and have been consulting with the
Animal Medical Center in NYC all through this. If Fritter's vet wants to
talk to us or see Tumbleweed - as a comparison to Fritter, or whatever -
Frit's people should let us know. We are no farther from Hillsborough than
we are from Highland Park...
-----
On other topics - I have noticed, for years, that if Tumbleweed adn
'brindal had gone more than about a week without getting at least an hour
of playtime a day, when I took them out of their cage they would shiver. I
finally decided it was more like their muscles quivering, and took it as a
sign that they needed more playtime, or at least more consistent playtime.
If a long time had passed since they ahd been allowed to romp, it wouldnt
happen - so I guess that, in this case at least, it was teh muscular
reaction to a sudden decrease in activity. I have heard of runners
experiencing this - if they run N miles a day, and suddenly for some reason
cant run at all, their leg muscles will tremble.
-----
'brindal has a seasonal weight fluctuation - when his weight is high, we
have often thought of dying him purple and putting a green bow on his head,
cause he looks like a fur-covered eggplant. Associated wtih this is a
coloration change - the fur behind his ears gets a marked yellow-orange
stain. I used to try to wash it out, but now I dont worry about it - he
also has an obnoxious ear wax problem, but it doesnt seem to hurt him so I
no longer clean his ears out. He never liked it anyway. I tend to use
whatever is handy to wash them, since I dont do it regularly or often. I
most often use the Ivory Pump Hand Soap - or else my Apple Shampoo, also in
a pump bottle. The pumps make life *lots* easier.
-----
The only thing that 'brindal acknowledges as food besides his Kitten Chow
is peanut butter. Tumbleweed gets all the Nutrical. Maybe Fritter will like
peanut butter too? It is oily enough that it might also slow the digestion
down... I have never noticed a red stain to any of our collective ferrets'
fur, and we have always fed them Kitten Chow. with liberal treats of Nutrical.
Linatone may be cheaper and more easily available, but I dont remember ever
using it. 'brindal's underfur is light enough we would notice a stain...
-----
That is all for now - gotta give TW her amoxycillin.
Fortunately she likes it.
/amq, Tumbleweed, Celebrindal, and Shari the Amazingly Stupid Cat.
"The fog comes in on little cat feet..."
tha-dump tha-dump, tha-dump Mrowr!
[Posted in FML 0179]
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