Wolf was put to sleep this afternoon, one week after surgery.  He hung in
there for almost a week, but his body finally gave up.
 
My sister, Auntie Rose, came with me to visit Wolf the past 2 days to
help massage, talk, kiss him and help let him know we were there for him
as long as he wanted to live.  He ate good yesterday but last night and
today, he would eat a little and turn his head.  After visiting with him
and knowing his kidneys were failing and a chem panel showed other things
falling, my vet suggested it was now in his best interest to be put to
sleep.  Wolf had put up one hell of a fight to stay alive and as long as
he had the will to fight, my husband, vet and I decided to keep going as
long as he was comfortable.  He was constantly up and down and his body
was retaining fluids.  My vet managed him on fluids and lasix and tried
hedastarch?  His bg was up and down which is normal, it would go off the
charts.  He had no ketones (I believe that is what they were called) in
his urine.  His albumin was very low, creatine was 6 (I think that is
what it was, it was very bad).
 
My vet explained everything that was going on in his body.  His kidneys
were failing secondary to Pancreatitus.  When he had his ultrasounds on
heart and belly, the nodules did not look as big as they actually were
and the pancreas really had to be manipulated.  Wolf even had insolinoma
in his mesentary lymph node as well as liver.  He had the rare form of
cancerous insolinoma, the kind that spreads into the organs.
 
Losing him was hard because we were so emotionally attached to him with
the 4 hour feedings as well as just all the time put into him, he got the
most attention out of all the ferrets because he was sick with
insolinoma.  Wolf definately knew he was loved above and beyond.  I will
miss my Wolfy, he was a very sweet dark, hooded sable with a very, sweet,
gentle nature.  The fight is over, emotionally I am so drained and pray
no one or ferret has to go through what Wolf and I went through.
 
We send hope and wellness to those who have a sick ferret and can only
hope and pray they recover.  To each and every one of you who have lost
a ferret, our hearts are with you and we send our sincere sympathy and
hope the pain of losing one will heal quickly.
 
Eleanor, Donald and the 7 ferrets, missing Wolf, Winta2 and Rocky
[Posted in FML issue 4846]