Hi all!
 
After being on vacation, I have *finally* caught up on all the FML
issues. Just a few comments:
 
Re: Northern Exposure
 
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! When will people learn to do research before stating
erroneous "facts"?
 
Re: Ferrets on Film
 
I've seen Beastmaster, Beastmaster II and Kindergarten Cop. Although each
has its charming moments, none of them really portray ferrets very well.
(Remember, this is just my $0.02.)
 
Now I've got a little fuzzy story to tell. Our baby Max, who at four
months is bigger than everyone, is highly motivated to get into
everything he now knows he's not supposed to get into. *And*, he loves
socks. As in chewing them to shreds (although he doesn't swallow the
pieces). We have a clothes hamper for dirty clothes in our closet, and in
2 1/2 years, no one's really bothered it. Until tonight.
 
It seems that Max saw I was reading all the FML issues and decided I was
paying too much attention to other people's ferrets. He went into the
closet and started digging at the hamper (not unusual for any of them).
Then he realized that there were *socks* in the hamper (and oh boy!
Dirty! My favorite kind!). All I can tell you, my dear FMLers, is that I
was interrupted from cruising on the information highway by Max running
under the bed with something that looked suspiciously like a sock.
 
I still don't really know how he did it, but he managed to climb up
(without knocking it over - it's pretty empty, and he's close to three
and a half pounds), open the lid (which is sunken), go into the hamper,
get the sock of his choosing, and climb back out.
 
This little ferret is smart. *Too* smart.
 
And now to my question, and I'm hoping Dr. Williams will be kind enough
to give his opinion on this. I have a 5-6 year old sable (he was a
shelter kid) who has had two operations done for insulinoma by Dr.
Kawasaki. The most recent surgery was in May, and Dr. K could not seem to
find any tumors. Ian has monthly glucose tests (he's currently in the
60-70 range, which I know is low) and an enlarged spleen. After returning
home from vacation, I went to pick him up from the sitters', and when I
got him home, he was in one of his drooling, I-am-a-zombie, stages. I
tried to get him to drink Karo and water, but he wouldn't so I ended up
rubbing it on his gums. After a while, he did snap out of it, and is now
back to normal. But we were very close to losing him.
 
Now, both my husband and I have decided he should die with dignity. No
more surgeries, no more medicine (he was on Pred for 8 months - he got
very weak). I have not tried Proglyceum (sp?) and don't really want to -
it's very expensive. However, I want to know - should we get the spleen
removed? I don't want any more surgeries - he almost didn't make it last
time. But, if this is adding too much stress to his system, maybe we
should consider it. I really have mixed feelings - any suggestions would
be welcome.
 
Amy & Dave (and their gaggle of giggling ferrets)
 
[Posted in FML issue 0965]