With a heavy heart on Valentines Day I bring you news of Dammie's
sudden departure to the bridge.

Perhaps you have heard me talk about Dammie before.

There are so many sad tales but his especially broke my heart. He was
in a group of three ferrets (with Missy & Jasper) who had a cigarette
put out in his back because he pooped in the wrong corner.

At least someone reported it and he was removed from the premises by
animal control and brought to me with an opened wound that never seemed
to heal.

Hearing a noise from the ferret room that only a ferret mom or dad
knows and makes your heart leap to your throat and you run knowing
something is very urgent.

Looking around seeing only sleepy ferrets I see Zelly literally jumping
up and down to let me know "over here, over here". Dammie is trying to
come to the cage door and I hear him whimpering (not a common sound
from stoic ferrets). Easy to notice right away on an albino ferret
droplets of blood from the belly area. Every ferret mom goes into
multi-task overdrive, scooping him up and telling him Mommy's here,
while dialing the vet's office, pressing the auto start button on the
four wheel drive car, and racing out of the house into the first snow
storm of the season in New England. All the way there I had a nagging
feeling in my stomach, likely a urinary blockage, maybe something
worse. After many tests and phone conferences, Dammie appears to have
a urinary blockage, possibly a stone. Attempts at caterization have
failed and surgery is needed.

Now come the difficult decisions that every ferret mom and dad dreads
to make as well a compounded by being a shelter mom with many hospice
ferrets to care for. What to do for a six plus year old bilateral
adrenal ferret on lupron and melatonin. Many prayers were said to help
make the right decisions for him and despite the finances involved, we
decided to give him the surgery to try and save him.

However even the best decisions are left to a higher power. He had
already received medicine to help his pain and was asleep. Before
Dammie's surgery even began his heart stopped beating. Perhaps it was
his way of letting me know that he didn't want surgery.

Although I am so sad today, I can smile through my tears of what his
last year was filled with, he received monthly lupron shots, a
melatonin implant which made his daily life much better. You could see
it in his face how much more he enjoyed life. There were many packages
from Secret Santas through the Ferret Giving Tree from all over the
country which he shared with his ferret buddies. He grew less weary
and began playing and enjoyed every bit of mommy's special soup.

He was one of our hospice ferrets who benefited so much from wonderful
people who helped to sponsor him.

If you would like to make a difference in a special ferret's life I
encourage you all to do so. At my house fur is optional and duck soup
is usual. Medication time is quality time. I have always felt so
honored to care for these little old guys who ask for so little and
add so much to my life.

Diane Wall
South Shore Ferret Care

[Posted in FML 5519]