It's been a long time since I've posted and had basically been trying to
close for several years.  It's just hard to say no when there's one in
need or someone threatening to turn one loose if they can't "get rid" of
it immediately.  I can provide great care, lots of love and so far we've
been able to manage.  How quickly things change.  With so many shelters
closing there aren't many options in NE Florida.
 
I don't have time to go into as much detail right now as I'd like to
but I do want to say thank you so much to those of you offering to help.
With the addition of 4 very sweet kids who were confiscated by animal
control from a horrible situation, it really drained me financially.
They all came in with upper respiratory infections and hair loss from
flea infestation.  Two are doing wonderfully now, tiny little Crystal
badly needs adrenal surgery and then there's George.  I had hoped to
get Crystals surgery soon but we thought George had a blockage per the
x-rays.  However, it turned out to be a huge, inflamed lymph node on his
mesentery and he had surgery the next day.  He seemed to be doing pretty
good but 3 nights later when I went to feed him, his intestines were
coming out.  My vet is too far away at night so all I could do was call
a friend to drive us to the ER clinic while I kept George covered with
sterile pads.  Thankfully, the vet there knew ferrets and was wonderful
with him.  She saved his life.  This past week, the pathology from the
needle aspirate came back as lymphoma and either a parasitic or fungal
infection so George has been on some pretty powerful antibiotic
injections.  He wasn't responding very well so we did a heartworm test
that was negative and gave an ivermection injection on Thursday.
Sunday, George gave me the most wonderful Mother's Day gift.  He played
for the first time!  He's not out of the woods yet but this is such an
improvement that I have hope now for him to have quality time.  All I
really know about the situation the four came from is there were dead
animals of all kinds all around the place.  So far, George's vet expenses
are right at 1200.00 and I had to use my mortgage money to get him out of
the ER clinic.  I think my bill with Dr. Rossi is around 650.00 - 700.00
and we still need to do vaccines, adv testing, etc.  on these new kids.
 
One with neurological damage was found in a pet store in December by a
friend and given to her to bring to me.  She'd had a severe ear infection
and was having seizures.  My vet said the infection had spread to her
brain causing the seizures.  She was on several medications and still
is off and on.  Her ears were flushed again today.  Fortunately, her
seizures are not too severe and she's a fat, happy little girl now being
fostered by the lady who originally found her.
 
Then in came Molly and Poncho.  Both 5 years old, living outside most
of the time, never seen a vet and eating Wal-Mart food.  Both tested
negative for heartworms but both are insulinomic.
 
Took in Remington from a pet store where he'd been in a vet clinic for
a couple of weeks.  No real problem was found by my vet nor did records
from the other vet show anything.  Big beautiful boy!  Remington went
to his new home a couple of days ago and has a playmate his age.
 
More came in recently from ac but have homes.
 
There's much more to tell but there's still ferrety stuff to be done yet.
Briefly, Sandi Robinson of Heaven Scent and I are combining shelters so
we can help each other.  We've taken in a large number of ferrets who
need everything from A to Z and will try to give more details on what's
needed tomorrow.  We're still evaluation these new kids.
 
Our vets name is
Dr. John Rossi, Riverside Animal Hospital, 2641 Park St.,
Jacksonville, FL 32204.
Please let them know any donation is for either The Dook Nook or Heaven
Scent.
 
My paypal is [log in to unmask]
Sandi's is [log in to unmask]
Please note these are both new email addresses.
 
Stay tuned, lots more to come....
 
Hugs to all,
Jackie
[Posted in FML issue 5245]