Cleo passed over to the Rainbow Bridge yesterday afternoon while I was at
work.  She had been diagnosed with insulinoma in November and despite soup
and prednesone, her semi-fasting glucose had dropped to 30 by late January.
We were attempting to build her up for surgery when she died.  Cleo was ~4
years old.
 
Most people get ferrets from a shelter, a pet store, a breeder or an
acquaintance who had to part with their pet.  I got Cleo at a yard sale.
I'd never had a ferret before, but the sight of her sitting in a too small,
too dirty cage with too long nails and no water, and I knew I wasn't going
anywhere without her.  She never held her weight real well in the 2.5 years
we had her, and while active, was never up to the antics of her pals that we
acquired over time.  But she was sweet, never complained, never bit and
never annoyed the cats, who often let her sleep next to them.  She was the
picture of politeness - unless you tried to take her raisins :-).  She was
pretty protective of those raisins - the mouse that roared as it were :-)
Cleo introduced us to ferret ownership and was a wonderful ambassador.  She
paved the way for the next 5 ferrets.  We will all miss her very much.
 
As I said, Cleo's fasting glucose was 30 in last January.  Cleo never had a
full blown seizure, never lost her appetite, never had trouble with her
stools or urine, never really lost her balance.  The only symptoms we ever
saw were fatigue, a tendency to gaze off into space every one in a while and
an unwillingness to engage in rough play with her mates (Cleo would scream
if they got too rough and run to me).  If you suspect your ferret has
insulinoma, go with your gut instinct and take them to see the vet.  Don't
wait for the full blown seizure to be sure, it may never come.  We probably
gave Cleo an extra 3-4 months using the soup, which I highly recommend.
 
Many thanks to Alicia and Dino at Ferret Wise and Dr. Lisa Anderson at
Merrimack Veterinary Hosipital for their tireless efforts to help me
stablize Cleo.  I know I couldn't have done as much as I did for Clee
without their help.  Cleo will be autopsied later today to determine her
exact cause of death.  I don't think insulinoma was her only problem.  She
died in the company of her cage mates, Jenny and Rommel, and didn't appear
from her position to have suffered.  It looked like she just went to sleep.
Jenny is having a bit of a hard time with Cleo's death, but Rommel, despite
his own problems (bi-lateral adrenal) is doing ok.  The rest of the crew
seems to have come to terms with it all right.  As for me, I'm finding it
tough to cope with the fact that, after feeding Cleo soup up to 5 times day
and night, I suddenly have nothing to do.  That and the nightmares I had
last night about waking up and finding Rommel dead too.  I'm sure that will
pass with time.
 
Mary-Michael Scanlon
[Posted in FML issue 1849]