Hi all,

In the interest of trying to help further research and education on our
little fuzzies, I sadly report the passing of my beloved little girl,
Lavender.

Lavender was an approximately 5 year old Marshall Farms girl. In recent
years, she had a mild reaction to a rabies vaccine (turned pink from
head to toe and acted like she had the sniffles, but that's all), then
a couple months ago, had a VERY severe reaction to a distemper vaccine.
She went into anaphylactic shock. The vet gave her shots to help
counteract the reaction, including a bone-marrow IV, and she pulled
through. We vowed no more vaccines for her.

Saturday evening, I was eating some leftover hashbrown casserole. I let
Lavender have a few licks of my food (who doesn't share their food once
in a while with there little loves). Almost immediately, she began
vomiting, and within minutes was unresponsive. I called our wonderful
vet and got him out of bed, and we got her to the hospital within 20
minutes where he began shots and treatment. She lived for a few hours
before having a seizure and passing away. I feel confident we did
everything we could, though of course there is no small amount of guilt
on my part that I fed her the very thing that caused her death. Of
course, as a responsible pet owner, I know pets shouldn't have human
food and I usually DON'T share human food with them. This was just a
rare occurrence that had the most tragic of endings.

The contents of the hash brown casserole where...
Simply Potatoes(R) Shredded Hash Browns
Cream of chicken soup
Shredded Cheese
sour cream
chopped onion
butter or margarine
corn flakes

Best our vet can figure, it was maybe a dairy allergy, but we don't
know for sure. I have let Lavender lick chocolate off my lips before
(bribing for kisses, yes) and there was never a problem. She's eaten
Totally Ferret brand food for the last few years and no problems.

It was so sudden and out of the blue...we never had any reason to
suspect something like this could happen to her. On a personal note, my
chief emotion right now is anger (at what, I don't know, the universe I
guess). Lavender was really and truly one of the sweetest ferrets we've
ever owned. When friends would bring their little kids over and want to
see a ferret, I always brought out Lavender, secure in the knowledge
that she would never hurt a fly. Her heart was pure and good through
and through. I miss her so much and am so angry that we've been robbed
of her presence. I'm very used to dealing with cancer in ferrets, and
accept that cancer is a part of life with these little guys. But this
stupid food allergy thing is so pointless!!!

Anyway, thanks for reading. I don't know that this info about allergies
and anaphylactic shock can be of any use to any vet-type people out
there. Our vet lamented the lack of information available for ferrets,
and maybe this experience can help narrow down contents of vaccines
that are harmful to ferrets.

Photo of Lavender, with her buddy Rocky, who I hope with all my heart
met her somewhere over the rainbow and wish that they are happy and
health over there...
<http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2207694676640&set=a.1285535343233.42868.1375643230&type=1&l=aad1419040&theater>

And if anyone needs a vet recommendation in northern Wisconsin, give
Dr. Raymond Goodroad of Northern Paws Animal Hospital in Rhinelander
a chance. He's been wonderful for us. He is so dedicated and
compassionate, and he really knows his stuff (even if he doesn't see
very many ferrets).

Jillian Steffes

"In the end, we will conserve only what we love...
we will love only what we understand...
we will understand only what we are taught."
- Lao-Tsu 490 B.C.

[Posted in FML 7237]