Recently I posted why I donated some funds towards ferret medical
research and referenced my mother's heart issues and "the cough".
I had no idea that this was a foreshadowing of things to come. my
Turbo, a DMK rescue coughed the other night, I gave him some ferretone
and he seemed fine.
I looked at him again and he had "the look". You know the one where
they seem fine but you can see it in their eyes. Thankfully at 7pm my
vet's office was still open and just to ease my mind, I asked if they
could just give a listen to his heart to ensure that I was just being
paranoid.
An hour later I watched them tap his chest and remove 40 cc of fluid
from one side and 15 cc of fluid from the other. Even the vet was
amazed to be taking a total of 55cc from a ferret's chest. Yep, he has
cardiomyopathy and is on the regiment of meds that is a result of the
medical research we have today.
I brought him home and he is ok for now, but the vet has advised that
he will not have very long, so every day is a blessing.
If I had not read recent posts and knew that a cough could be something
significant or had ferret medical research enabled my vet to prescribe
exactly what he needs, my Turbo would be gone. This morning he is
snoozing with his buddies after a nice bowl of dook soup. Turbo has
done thousands of hours of educating the public and every person who
visits the shelter gets to hear the DMK story, he is a particular
favorite of his Aunty Cathy Ryan. He like so many others, have
benefited from this wonderful ferret group, getting him out of those
horrific conditions, to a loving home with whatever care he will need
for the rest of his days.
There are so many every day heroes and some superheroes in the ferret
community and the general public, that this year we decided that our
summer event would be:
"To The Rescue. Honoring Every day and Super Heroes"
South Shore Ferret Care will host this event and we are hoping to have
lots of things included such as, education for Kids to be Everyday
Heroes and be an example to other kids and adults of how to treat their
ferrets and on the lookout for anyone mistreating ferrets, other
animals or other kids and tell an parent, or trusted adult.
We will also be honoring Everyday Adult Ferret Heroes to be an example
of how to treat their ferrets, who have taken in a Foster Ferret or a
Hospice Ferret. We will especially be looking to honor military service
men and women whom the shelter has helped by taking in their ferrets
when they were deployed as a small thank you for putting themselves in
harm's way to defend our nation. We will be especially be looking to
honor the Firefighters who rescued our hospice ferrets from the fire
that destroyed their hospice home, and hope to have a real fire truck
for the kids to enjoy. We will especially be looking to honor Animal
Control Officers, Police Officers, Vets and Vet Techs who help ferrets
and all other animals every day. We will also have some Super Heroes &
Shelter Angels to honor for those who have gone beyond to help the
shelter, rescue a ferret in harm's way and/or put their own medical
issues that they are dealing with aside and continue to rescue and care
for ferrets. The wonderful folks at Totally Ferret are Super Heroes to
us and will be especially honored. They literally keep our shelter
going with nutritious food and we are hoping that they will send some
coloring books for the kids, always a big hit and very educational.
Of course we will have Wonderful Weasel Laundry Soap and Dry Dook Soup
Mix available as well as new Ferret Super Hero Tee shirts and color
ferret drawings made specifically for this event by Christine Ries,
wonderful ferret mom and creator of our new website banner. We will be
featuring Super Hero Sponsors, Little Feet Ferret Retreat Bedding, by
Rose German and figurines by Eleanor Meade.
So SAVE THE DATE: August 6th at South Shore Ferret Care, Holbrook MA
(rain date 8/7)
More details will follow on the new website being developed:
www.southshoreferretcare.org
Sincerely,
Diane at South Shore Ferret Care
[Posted in FML 7062]
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