The following was in response to an inquiry FACT received regarding the
extent of Mira's injuries and inquiring as to whether it may have been
more humane to have her euthanized rather than facing a life of pain.
 
"Thank you for your note and for your concern about Mira.  First, let me
assure you that our concern is first and foremost with the ferrets in our
care.  While we are a "no-kill shelter," we are also a humane organization
and would never put our personal desire for life before the welfare and
comfort of our charges.
 
Mira will not require skin grafts.  The burns she received were epidermal
layer chemical burns that did no deep, permanent damage to her skin tissue.
 
The shoulder blade itself is dislocated.  How much pain she is in at any
given moment is difficult to assess.  Ferrets (as any prey animal) are very
adept at disguising pain because showing you are wounded could invite a
predator's unwanted attention!  However, we have observed the following.
 
Mira spends somewhat more than average time (for a young ferret) sleeping.
I (along with our exceptionally practical and caring veterinarian - who is
also the chief vet for the CT Humane Society), believe that her sleep
pattern is a by-product of boredom more than discomfort.  She very happily
"ferret-snoops" any area and is presently housed with a young, but not
overly active sprite - in a small, but cozy bathroom in order to help with
her physical therapy.
 
Until her skin wounds heal, we cannot proceed with corrective surgery.  Our
vet feels that any such surgery would be, at this time, premature and he
wants to see her skin fully healed.
 
When the time comes, she will first need exploratory surgery to ascertain
the exact degree of her shoulder injury.  There is a question as to what
damage was done to the connective tissues.  At the very worst, Mira will be
permanently handicapped, but I assure you still very capable of moving
around.  The question will be the extent of her handicap.
 
We will have had Mira here for 4 weeks as of the 19th of September.  Our vet
has been pleased (and sometimes even surprised) with the speed of her
improvement.  She has progressed from only being able to walk back-wards, to
moving backwards, forwards and sideways.  She willingly plays inside a bag -
obviously, she cannot bounce, leap or jump.  But she loves to push her way
though it.  She has gone from being unable to lift her front paws to,
recently, climbing into a small plastic tub with an approximately 2 inch
high side.  Previously, we thought she would never be able to climb without
her surgery -- now we understand why our vet wants to wait and see healing
can be accomplished by "Mother Nature"!).
 
If we thought Mira was facing a life of pain, we would mercifully have it
ended.  I have had to make that decision for several of my own ferrets and a
number of FACT's charges over the past several years.
 
The most painful issues for Mira is that we are very aware of how a young 16
week old ferret should be acting and playing.  And we know that Mira will
never have that ability to run, leap and frolic like others of her kind.
 
For Mira, that is the ultimate tragedy.
 
I'll be happy to answer any other questions you may have.  And again, thank
you for caring enough to ask what for many people is a very difficult
question.
 
Ann Gruden, President, Ferret Association of CT, Inc.
http://www.ferret-fact.org/
[Posted in FML issue 2078]