Today has been a very busy day at Zoo's Ferret Sanctuary! Many emails &
phone calls. I am happy to give you the news that Bisquit is doing much
better than we expected he would. To save time, I am copying & pasting
part of the email I sent Ardith & a few others, this morning, in reply.

This stuff seems to ALWAYS happen on a Sunday or holiday, doesn't it?

He came here in pretty bad shape. She lives over two hours away. There
is only a dog & cat emergency vet on Sundays. When Lisette called me,
I told her I was going to see if Gregg could meet her half way & bring
Bisquit straight to us. (Thank God for dependable board members!) They
both left immediately.

Bisquit's nose, ears, chin, lips, roof of mouth, and tiny feet were
burned & blistered. A tooth was broken. He suffered some bruising. He
couldn't walk. His eyes looked bad.There was some bleeding out of one
ear. He was very traumatized. Shocky. We COULD have gotten our vet to
meet us 35 MORE minutes away, and she WOULD have---but Bisquit probably
didn't have that much more time to spare. The pain was horriffic.

We gave fluids, dexamethasone, pain meds, & ointment for his eyes. We
couldn't even cuddle him---It hurt to be touched...and we waited &
prayed...Thankfully, he was out of pain. (We gave a lower than usual
dose. I was afraid it might depress his system even further, & we might
lose him)

I syringe-fed him every few hours with "simple soup" and gave more
fluids. He slowly responded.

He was able to make it to the box within hours. He was very wobbly. We
weren't sure if it was due to the burns on his little feet, or if the
head trauma had left him brain-damaged....

Yesterday, the skin fell off his nose. It peeled! I am amazed at his
progress.

Today is Tuesday. His bright red ears have returned to normal color,
although there are still small scabs on the undersides. His nose is
still pretty red & scabby--and looks a little "wrinkled" His feet look
better. The dexamethasone has done its job well. The inflammation is
MUCHLY reduced, & his appetite has increased. Last night, he agreed to
eat a small amount of soup from the bowl. He is off pain meds, & is
doing much better than we had expected.

Today, he is eating soup on his own! He is alert & curious, & is
thinking about getting out of the cage!!!

If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes, I might think there was some
exaggeration as to his origional condition. It's just incredible, how
well he is responding!

Tonight, he is walking almost normally. (Tender feet though!)
Yesterday, one of his eyes wouldn't open as wide as the other, but
today they look almost equal. I think he can see out of both of them.
His hearing seems ok. He heard us call his name tonight, when soup
was served. (He's still getting feedings, every few hours around the
clock.)

If I read about a ferret who escaped outside in the dead of winter, &
then that the same ferret took a 15 minute ride in the dryer on "HOT" I
might wonder what kind of a ferret mommy we were dealing with---if we
didn't have Jack. We used to have a pretty trash can in the ferret
room--a nice tall, 13 gallon one. Jack was the only ferret out of 56,
at the time, who was able to leap up into that can---and fall asleep
in the pile of discarded wood pellets & ferret waste. I almost tied
off the bag & threw him away! I'll never know what made me look under
the dirty, folded newspaper & discover him there. It can happen to
ANYONE--& WE don't even do free ROAM!! (We now have a 33 gallon,
industrial Brute can, WITH LID!!! )

ALWAYS WATCH!!! ALWAYS be aware. They are like two year olds--and they
can get into trouble. If you have a gut feeling about something -- 
RESPECT it! ( Lisette noticed the suspicious thud sound from her
dryer.) Five people have confessed to me today, how they needlessly
lost their OWN furkids. They will never forgive themselves. Lisette
was very brave to post about her experience. Thank God THIS story has
a happy ending--but the rest of us should take this as a wakeup call.

Love, Zoo

[Posted in FML 5630]