Dear Ferret Folks-
 
I've had a number of inquires regarding Hurricane Lily.  How is she
bearing up?  How is her health?
 
Well, when Lily came home from the vet ( the Worcester Cat Hospital and
Bird Clinic with Dr.Chenoa Lenciewicz, the same place April mentioned in
regards to a blood transfusion for her little girl Holly yesterday), my
husband Dann brought her to say goodbye to Switch the Kit.
 
He unwrapped Switch from her beautiful piece of shiny silver cloth, and
placed her on a table with Lily.  Lily ran up to her dooking.  They had
been separated all night by Lily's hospitalization, the only night since
they had been introduced several years before.  But Lily fell silent.
She walked around Switch, sniffing, several times.  Then she slipped her
head beneath her friends, and tried to lift her, to get her to stand.
Lily whimpered gently a little bit, and understood.  They do understand,
you know.  Finally, she walked away.
 
Lily was a little 'clingy' for a day, wanting to play and be touched, but
now she seems herself, only a little slower than usual.
 
She got badly ill last week, with the squirts and a cough.  Her
nictitating membranes became visible, and her eyes watered.  She became
visibly ill very quickly, and it was shocking.  It was the seriousness of
her condition that so rattled me, I forgot to return Switch to the Ferret
Room, and she made her way downstairs hours later, into the territory of
the killing dog.
 
Lily was intravenously dehydrated at the vets.  She was xrayed, and a
mass was revealed.  It is probable lymphoma, and we are treating it with
Prednisone.  We are also treating her for the possibility of an
infection.
 
She reasonably hates being medicated, and has become good at shaking a
tasty mixture of ferret spit and pharmaceuticals onto my husbands beard,
so that he looks like a mad dog, foaming at the mouth.  Then she gets
down on the rug beneath the kitchen table and wipes her little face off
on it.
 
We are spoiling her with one of her favourite treats, stale miniature
marshmallows after every medication session.
 
We have been working on ways to deny that...dog... another opportunity
to hunt ferrets, because we very much want a companion for Lily.
 
Alexandra in MA
[Posted in FML issue 4823]