When I lost my Taz, my first ferret, a few years ago I thought nothing
could be worse... Boy was I wrong... Last week was an especially bad week
for me..  My wife's doctor told us that our baby may not survive the
pregnancy, and then not one, but 2 of my 4 ferrets, Baby and Binky died
within 3 days of each other.  Baby was fine when I went to bed for the
night, and when I came down to give them clean food and water she was
laying on the bottom level of their cage and then 3 days later, while I was
playing with my remaining 3 ferrets, Binky layed down and wouldn't move...
It was around 8 pm, I tried feeding her some duck soup while I tried to get
hold of a vet (the local vet had a setup with an animal emergency hospital
but when I needed them they said they don't take exotics and that I would
have to go to Akron, over an hour away) and she started getting a little
bit friskier but then she just layed still and while I held her, she took
her last breath.
 
I guess the big thing for this message, besides getting my grief out, is to
make sure that you don't just take your vet's word for it that there's an
emergency hospital in town, call around first... I'd have saved 20 minutes
of phone calls at least... While that wouldn't have made a difference in
this case, it might for someone else... I guess I'm guilty of assuming... I
took the vet at his word, and I think I'm gonna have to find a new vet now
cuz I don't think I can take my last 2 ferrets to see him again.
 
Remember to kiss your ferrets today... I have definitely learned the hard
way that I may not have tomorrow to make it up to them.
 
Jim H
[Posted in FML issue 2550]