Victoria - I know you made the right choice for Antigone. My very
first ferret had numerous problems all during his life, and I was
always able to pull him through with TLC, and special attention to
diet. Just before he turned 7, my young male [the one who just had
his adrenal gland removed] used to always want to play with him, and
pestered him so much he stopped trying to get up to eat. I separated
him from the others and brought him to the vet. Although he was very
ill, we decided to work with him and set a time limit on how long we
would treat him without significant improvement. He was in early stages
of liver failure, according to my vet, from his lack of eating. He got
better rapidly, and things looked good-then my dog, who I had rescued
after he was hit by a UPS truck, attacked the cage with him in it one
night when I went to work. As the dog had some brain damage, and was
not always predictable with people other than me, my parents called
me home from work. The long and short of it is, that although Helix was
not injured directly by the dog, it was such a shock to his system that
everything shut down. I tried for three days to get him to come around
but he had lost the will to live. I had him euthanized at that point.
I have always regretted that I waited those three days, because he was
in bad shape, and cried at night, and wouldn't sleep with me as he usually
did. Because I kept hoping I could help him, I unintentionally made him
suffer more. Looking back on it, I wish that I had had the courage to do
as you did with Antigone.
Re. Helix's burial - When I lived out in Colorado, The very first ferret I
ever rescued was a special buddy of his. She died when she went in to get
spayed. When I brought her home, Helix tried to crawl in the box with her.
I had her cremated so that when Helix died I could bury them together. We
have a camp in the Adirondack mountains, where some of my best times have
been, so I brought them up there, and buried them next to the raspberry
thicket by our property. Now they are at my favorite place, and I visit the
grave every time I go to camp.
 
Re. litter : for a long time I used rabbit pellets in their pans, because
I am allergic to clay litter. Recently I switched to a product called Neat
n Sweet. It doesn't have the overwhelming odor that rabbit pellets do. I
found it at Price Chopper & Grand Union with the regular cat litter. I will
grant you that rabbit pellets are much cheaper. about $8 for 50 pounds.
 
Janice and the zoo
 
[Posted in FML issue 0758]