As Barbara posted, many ferret owners have great difficulty in knowing
what is the right decision, or when is the right time. After 14 years
of sheltering i feel comfortable is stating, each ferrets final day
comes differently. When a ferret has been ill for a while on meds and
has a terminal or chronic condition.... and that ferret stops eating
food, treats and stays quiet... the ferret is telling us as his
caretakers the time is now to let go.

Animals are very smart- much smarter than we are. The live on instinct
and if in it's natural element a sick ferret would crawl into a burrow,
close it's eyes ad wait for nature to take it's course. We tend to run
to the vets, administer sub q fluids hoping for a miracle cure. I have
nursed what seems to be an immeasurable number of ferrets back from
death -- ferrets with insulinoma, ferrets with lymphoma, ferrets
suffering greatly from the loss of a cage mate.. old ferrets ...
because I thought I was doing what was right.... for me it was.

Unfortunately time after time what I found was the ferret that was
living was not alive. The ferret existed without a quality of life.
No war dancing, no hide and seek games.. it ate, defecated slept and
was obviously living for me. Not the joyous existence of a ferret
celebrating life.

My personal feelings after these years is: that it is important to ask
the ferret what it wants... and give permission to him / her to move
on to another life when the task of regaining health is too great. Our
elder ferrets work hard to keep up and when dealing with cancers,
insulinoma, cardiac issues, anemia etc they go through much with meds
and other therapies. What is the expected gain-- a month, 2 months? How
will the overall quality of life be if treatment is successful. Many
meds and treatments leave ferrets with renal failure, liver failure and
thus their time is not quality enhanced.. it is time merely for us to
say goodbye.

Sometimes we need that time to say goodbye, sometimes we ask the
animals to live beyond their time for us, not meaning to ask too
much but because we so want to keep them near... but it IS our
responsibility to allow our pets a safe and comfortable time of
departure when the time arrives.

Just think-- how do you want to live at the end of your life? I do not
want to be bedridden, on medication as life passes me by-- and I am
quite sure that the ferrets we care for feel the same way. Let them
leave this world with your blessings in your arms ... let them leave
with dignity, not in the bottom of a cage...

They will tell you when the time is right... we all just need to
listen.

Alicia, shelter Mom
www.ferretwise.org

[Posted in FML 6212]