We helped Moe to the bridge on Tuesday evening.  He was 8 and a half
years old, and had been on Lupron for reoccurring adrenal tumors.  He had
been feeling punky for a few days, but Tuesday evening he was struggling
to breath.  Our vet did a blood test, and his blood glucose was good, but
he was horribly anemic and not manufacturing platelets.  He had almost no
blood pressure, and the gasping was because he was not capturing oxygen
when he was breathing.  The vet had a name for what he was experiencing,
but it escapes me.  He felt there was nothing to do for him and we
couldn't watch him struggle and gasp for air.  He'd panic and then it
would get worse.  It was horrible to watch.  I held him and talked to him
and cried while he left us.  He was one of my first rescues, back when I
knew almost nothing about ferrets.  I did know that living in a home with
a two year old banging on your cage and never getting out was not a good
thing.  He was such a sweet, loving boy.  He never tried to bite even
when he had surgery for his adrenal four years ago.  He just looked at
you with those deep brown eyes like he understood that you were trying to
help.  He looked at me the same way on Tuesday.  It was so hard to let
him go, but harder to watch him suffer.  Our vet did a necropsy, and he
found nothing wrong with his lungs.  The sac around his heart was filled
with fluid, and he was bleeding into his stomach.  Two-thirds of his
stomach and a part of his intestine were purple, he said it looked as if
it was dead or dying.  He isn't sure what that is about, so he is sending
tissue samples to UC Davis to see if we can learn anything.
 
Sandee, please welcome Moe to the bridge.  He has three other friends
there, two others that went in the last three months.  He should be met
by Mort, Pearl, and Murphy.  He won't ask for much of anything, but he'll
be happy with whatever you give him.  He was that sort of boy.  We miss
him.
 
Kim in Reno
[Posted in FML issue 3857]