To all of you out there that responded to my offer of Maltese Ferret
Pennies I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I had told several of
you about the sudden hospitalization of my Rusty and the results are
conclusive.  He has insulinoma as well as a hernia.  Rusty is 4 to 5
years old and was a rescue I got from a couple several years back.  They
were getting a dog and decided to part with their ferret.  The first time
I laid eyes on him I thought to myself what a big ferret he is!  Certainly
not the emaciated creature he was when I took him into the hospital this
morning.  He was so sweet looking and innocent for such a huge weasel.  He
was always so quiet and easy going and let the others war dance all over
him and actually drag him around.  He took it all in stride.  Rusty never
was sick a day in his life.  Never had anything the other guys would get.
So I had a deep feeling that someday he would end up with something of the
magnitude that he has now.  Here I am using past tense to describe him as
tho I have resigned myself to his eventual upcoming untimely demise.  I
have to make a decision by Monday whether to opt for the surgery or not.
If I do not he will continue his decline for sure and I am not going to
allow him to die like that.  So I will indeed let them operate and pray
he makes it thru but the vet told me the reality of it all.  He may die
on the table and he may also have other problems that seem to go hand in
hand with insulinoma.  But I have to try.  Right now I am really
infuriated at the breeders who do not care about anything other then
profit and have a large hand in why these little innocent creatures
suffer so damn many maladies.  I wish pet stores would be banned from
selling ferrets.
 
As much as I love them I would rather see this practice come to a
screeching halt then to let this sort of thing go on.  Please bear with me
in my anger.  I just lost Tyson a few weeks ago and now this.  A little
over a year ago I lost Ripley and then Ringo in quick succession and then
a month after they passed on I lost Squirty the night before Easter Sunday
and then my young Count Ibili who was only a month or two over one year.
He died of Myeloma.  So I got a reprieve from death and then Nova passed
on about 9 months later.  Then Tyson and now my Rusty is between this
world and the next.  It hurts and it angers me.  There is no sense in
these animals getting all these insane diseases.
 
So again, I thank all of you that are out there and give so much of
yourselves to us in desperate need.  My ferrets are my entire reason for
living and I love them so much it truly amazes me at times.  Me, a person
who basically can't stand emotions and humans.  I love animals and always
have.  You FMLers are one of a kind.  Thanks so much for everything.
 
Diane
[Posted in FML issue 3842]