Hi there, I am replying to yesterdays email to help with Rocky, but I
thought maybe I'd share it with others as well. While this is not new
information, sometimes it helps to hear it from someone else who isn't
as emotional as the caregiver who loves them so much and wrestling with
such an important decision. This applies to caring for a hospice ferret
and not an unexpected urgent medical emergency.
For Rocky, as with any ferret, your awareness of the end drawing near
has been hightented there is no one more in tuned with your ferret and
their needs more than the one that loves them the most. In your heart
you know that no matter how much love and supportive care you give him
that someday soon it will be "the time".
Some people believe that you should go on and on until your ferret can
go on no more. I too used to be of that mind, not wanting to take a day
or an hour or a moment away from them. After running a shelter for many
years and having to make emotional decisions, dealing with crashes and
urgencies in the middle of the night, Sundays, holidays or other times
when my regular vet wasn't available I was given these words of wisdom
which I share with you.
Don't look at this as taking time away from them, look at this as
making their time comfortable, non-stressful and honoring them by
releasing them before it gets to the point that they are in pain or
in crisis.
When the end is drawing near and you know your ferret has one or more
medical issues of which there will be no miracle cure you have the
ability to bring them relief through release. Do not wait until there
is only a dim light in their eye nor maintain them making them linger.
There is a difference between living as a ferret and merely being
alive. (This tidbit I absorbed at the symposium).
Pick a day when you can see your regular vet, the one your ferret is
used to seeing. Discuss how you want things to be handled and what type
of medication will be given and in what method. Let them know that you
want to be with your ferret (don't let them take him in another room
away from you). Decided what arrangement you want to make for them
afterwards (are you taking them home to make a special resting place,
do you want to arrange cremation, what else is your preference?) Decide
if you want to have someone accompany you, drive there and where you
will go afterwards. Be sure to plan sometime to grieve and reflect.
(There's nothing worse than having to make handle an urgent situation
and have to go back to work). Cry or do what ever you need to anything
you do is the right thing for you.
In the day preceding and the day of take all the extra time with them,
talk to them, cry to them, tell them all the things that they need to
hear, how wonderful your life has been with them and how much you are
the better for knowing them. Let them have special time with thier
ferret buddies over a nice bowl of soup, a bit of ferretone or anything
else that they enjoy. At the appointed time, gather the special
blankies, toys or things that they enjoy, bring them outside to smell
the fresh air and look to the sky for the beginning of the journey. At
the vets most have a quiet room. Depending on how you prefer things or
how your vet does things you may have discussed a method that you
prefer (stomach shot, a bit of gas with ferretone in the mask to relax
them, certainly not a heart stick).
Hug your ferret and whisper sweet things to them, tell them how you
will miss them, where they are going and who they will see there. The
last things that they experience should be comfort, warmth and your
whisper in their ears. Let them slowly drift away in your arms. Take a
few minutes after to stroke their fur, hug them and kiss them if you
wish.
Afterwards wrap them gently in the special blankie and add their toy
or special snack. If you are bringing them home with you, some believe
it gives there buddies closure to sniff them and realize that they are
gone. Some prefer not to do this, whatever you do is the right thing
for you. If you have arranged for a cremation, either you may call or
have your vet call to arrange this.
Take time to grieve, you are honoring your ferret by doing this and
handling the emotions that come with heartache. Some people go home and
hug their other ferrets, some call a ferret friend to talk, reflect and
grieve, some go for a walk, some pray. Whatever you do or don't do is
the right thing for you.
After a time the sharpness of the pain will dull, it won't hurt every
single minute, then it won't hurt every single hour, then it won't hurt
every single day. Then something will remind you of them, maybe a flash
across the room and you swear you saw them, maybe something will remind
you of a cute thing they used to do, it's ok to smile and laugh with
tears in your eyes.
Remember this ferret came to you to teach you something, to love them
and to help another ferret. Some people prefer to just love their
remaining ferrets, some like to adopt a ferret from a shelter who
deserves a wonderful mom or dad like you.
Those are my favorite people!
Hope this information helps or just reinforces what we already know.
Diane Wall
South Shore Ferret Care
(We have lost 27 ferrets this year and miss each one of them).
[Posted in FML 6202]
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