Dear Ferret Folks-
 
How could I not know?  Sabrina the Bat-Biter, now seven, is herself blind
as a bat!  I feel like a terrible ferret Mom for not knowing sooner, but
the wicked sparkle in those deep brown eyes has dulled forever.
 
I attributed her lack of scurrying to and fro anymore to her advancing
years, it seemed natural to me that she would slow down.  I suspected
that her vision wasn't very good anymore, her eyes flashed green in the
right light and she seemed to have a little trouble finding her Cheerios
if they fell too far from her nose.  She walks carefully, now.
 
Last night however, when she had her run of the house, my husband noticed
that she was bumping into things...his feet, the edges of the cabinets.
He said she was blind.  I didn't really believe it.  I don't think I
wanted to.  I remembered all the times I'd pull her out of a plant and
glare into her little sneaky eyes, I'd see myself reflected there, huge
and ridiculous and ineffectual, like she was going to quit uprooting the
begonia, AS IF!  The look she'd give me.  Complete cool indifference.
The eyes are the windows of the soul...
 
But hers is veiled now.  When I bring her under a bright light and tip
her just right, I can see that the green sheen to her eyes has really gone
a milky gray, like old faded velvet.  There was a ludicrous few minutes
where I tried poking at her eyes with various objects to see if she'd
flinch or blink...nothing.  No reaction, no matter how brighly colored,
or how close they came to her eyes.  She lives in a private world now,
one that I can't share.
 
Well, she is blind.  It has slowed her wandering down some, and made her a
bit more cautious, but it surely hasn't stopped her, or even apparently
dulled the pleasure she takes in being out and about.  Her nose works just
fine, and leads her to all the places she needs to go, albeit a bit more
hesitantly than her eyes did.  She's in a private world, but it seems to
be a good one, for all that it is dark, now.  I will not consider taking
her to the vet for this.  I don't know that they could do anything, but I
suspect that whatever they might want to do would distress or pain her.
 
She seems to be at peace with the change.  I'll never know if it came
gradually or all at once, what she thought about the dimming of the light.
Did she wonder about it as a thing apart from herself, or did it seem
natural, a matter of course?  Was she scared?  I hope not, but I don't
think so.  Sabrina has always had a natural air of indomitable nobility.
She remains a mighty biter of bats.  The years will never take that from
her, as they did her sight.
 
Alexandra from Massachusetts,
Doling out a few extra Cheerios tonight.
[Posted in FML issue 3775]