Hi all.  Tuesday, October 27, 1998 Claudia left us to go over the Bridge.
I know some people find these weepy posts pathetic and annoying, but this
is therapy for me; I need to tell you about her so I don't forget all her
wonderful qualities, and so I have a written record of how I feel about her.
 
Claudia was a little chocolate mitt MF ferret that was my one and only pet
store purchase.  Yes, she was an impulse buy, but she fit in nicely with
Ian and Elektra.  When Claudia was about a year old, she developed bladder
stones.  But she developed cystine bladder stones, not the struvite usually
found in cats and ferrets.  She had them removed.  Six months later, she
had even more removed.  We had tried everything after the first surgery --
diet, special supplements -- and nothing work.  I sent letters to every
ferret contact on Pam Troutman's STAR* list, hoping someone could help.  No
one could.  After her second surgery, Dave (just a boyfriend/roommate then)
and I decided that unless we could do something to help her we'd have to
put her to sleep because we weren't going to put her through surgery every
six months of her life.
 
With the help of Dr. Tom Kawasaki, we came up with an experimental drug
regimen that slowed the stone-building process way down.  She didn't have
another surgery until she was four, and never had another stone surgery
after that.  We tested her blood frequently but the drugs didn't do any
damage to her.
 
Already with one strike against her, at age 4 1/2 we discovered that she
had cardiomyopathy.  Dr. Charlie Weiss discovered this when I went in to
have him look at what I suspected were adrenal problems (classic hair
loss).  Claudia had always had a heart murmur, but it developed into
something more by age 4.  Dr. Weiss was leery about the surgery for
adrenal, but did it anyway because she was in pretty good health otherwise.
Not only did he remove her left adrenal, he removed most of her right
adrenal too, and took a big tumor off her pancreas.
 
Never, in all the times she had to suffer medicine and surgery, did
Claudia's outlook ever change -- she was our "ferretiest' ferret.  Always
looking for mischief and feet to nip.
 
Dr. Weiss took great care of Claudia's cardio.  We had her checked every
month to six weeks and had periodic heart X-rays done.  He had her on
lanoxin and furosemide (in addition to her two bladder stone meds) and she
had been on the same dosage for almost two years.
 
Last winter she was diagnosed with insulinoma and was put on yet another
med (pred).  Six months ago the adrenal problems came back.  And despite
all of these strikes against her, she never knew she was sick.  I talked
about Claudia in a private post a few months ago:
 
    Throughout all of her plights in life, Claudia has been the most
    consistently upbeat, wenchy and ferrety ferret I've ever seen.  And
    I've had other surgeries on other ferrets.  My husband is convinced
    she's alive today because of me, but I doubt that.  She's too stubborn
    to get sick or die.  If she can be like this until her dying breath
    then it's all been worth it.  She's on five meds a day but she DOESN'T
    KNOW SHE'S SICK!!  She's one special girl and although I'll miss her
    terribly when she goes, at least I know her problems will be at an end.
 
The thoughts written then held true until the past few days.  Claudia had
an abscessed tooth a couple of months ago and she lost quite a bit of
weight due to the infection.  She never really regained her weight or her
strength.  For the last week I'd been hand-feeding her and for the last
four days she couldn't walk because she was too weak.  In the last two
days, she'd been pooping on herself because she couldn't get up to go to
the litter pan.  Monday night I realized this was unfair to her spirit and
to us.  We were prolonging the inevitable.
 
Yesterday, we took her in to be euthanized.  Because they had to give her
the heart injection (her blood pressure was too low for the regular shot)
they gave her a dose of ketamine.  I held her and talked to her and petted
her as she drifted off to sleep, and then she just quit breathing and
within a few minutes she was gone.
 
Dave and I went at lunch so as not to involve our 18-month-old daughter.
We brought Claudia home last night to be buried, and then I showed Sarah
the body and said "All gone." She petted Claudia and repeated "all gone."
We buried Claudia in the back yard under the pear tree and Dave made a
little headstone for her.
 
A couple hours later I found Sarah standing at the back door saying "all
gone" and kissing the door.  What a bittersweet moment.  This morning
Sarah helped me let the other ferrets out and as naturally I was weepy, I
explained that I was sad because I missed Claudia.  Sarah looked at the
back door and waved and said "bye-bye." How can anyone emotionally hold up
under that?
 
My darling Claudia, we already miss you so much. Rest in peace, my sweet
angel, until we meet again.
 
Amy, Dave & Sarah (and their gaggle of non-giggling ferrets today)
RIP Ian and Elektra
 
RIP
Claudia 1/30/91-10/27/98
[Posted in FML issue 2476]