I know all of the scientific reasons why the moon was so bright on the
Solstice the other night, but I would like to think that it was made a
little bit brighter so that a sweet little sable girl could find her way to
the Rainbow bridge.  She was so small, and her eyes barely open, she needed
all the light she could to find her way.
 
Our club contact for the Triangle Ferret Lovers, here in the triangle area
of North Carolina, received a call just after the dinner hour from a man
who had bought a supposedly five and a half week old kit from a pet store
in Burlington, NC.  The kit wasn't eating, and he was concerned for it, and
was hoping we could help get it to eat and get it healthy in time for him
to give it to his girlfriend for Christmas.  This was probably the fastest
turn around for a ferret to come to the club in need of help, they had
supposedly only bought the little girl just that afternoon.  I was called
as a possible foster mom for the baby for a couple of days, and I let our
contact know that if she needed any help that I was only a phone call away.
 
The club contact, Shari, went to an arranged place and picked up the sweet
little girl (they were unsure of the sex, until she confirmed it) who was
so small that she easily curled up in Shari's palm.  The little thing was
obviously not well, and Shari brought her home and tried to get liquids
and chicken gravy into her, the baby was pretty non-responsive.  While
consulting with a vet and friend on the phone about what Shari could do for
the kit, it let out a gasp, shuddered and died..right there in her palm.
Having only lost one of her beloved girls to a long battle with lympho and
insulinoma recently, this was even more devastating.
 
I got the call minutes after the kit had passed, and then I called our
local animal emergency clinic to see if they could keep her little body for
us while we contacted the owners and tried to figure out what to do as it
was nearly midnight.  They were very helpful and understanding and said
they could most certainly keep her for us.  I then went over to Shari's so
I could drive her and the poor baby to the vet office.
 
The unnamed little girl had only been gone for about fifteen minutes, but
her body was very cold and hard, even curled up in my hand.  You could see
that her nose was completely encrusted inside and filled with what looked
to me like sawdust.  She was so very tiny, but not emaciated, I don't think
it was starvation that claimed her.  She didn't have any prolapse as pet
store kits often do.  I have a sinking feeling that it was due to being in
shavings at the pet store or something similar that contributed to her
death, or caused it altogether.
 
For two very devoted and loving fuzzy moms who have both lost dear babies
in the past weeks, this was a very hard trip to take.  It was also harder
to hear that the people weren't interested in what happened to the baby now
that she was gone, although they were sorry to hear it, so now we have to
decide what is to become of her.  We also want desperately to get the
breeder guarantee from the family (if they have one) to see if they truly
had only had her for several hours, and how old she was supposed to be.
From the tattoo in her ear, she appears to be a Marshall Farms ferret.
The next step is to locate the pet store to find out if they have other
ferrets, where they came from, and what conditions they are living in.  We
took extensive precautions and changed our clothes and washed ourselves
before being in contact with any other fuzzies, you never can be too
careful.
 
I'm asking for any information, if anyone has it, about what death from
cedar toxicity looks like.  If in fact that is what this is, how could
the ferret have gone from being attractive enough to want to buy at a pet
store, to being a deaths door with breathing trouble in a matter of hours,
especially when her little nose was so clogged?  Why didn't the pet store
see this?  Why didn't the owners?  I couldn't tell if the eyes were
crusted, but the nose certainly was, I know this is one of the signs of
distemper, could that have been the cause?  What does death from canine
distemper look like?
 
Hopefully we'll know more in the coming days although with the holidays,
that will be difficult I'm sure.  Any input anyone could give would be
helpful.
 
Sandee, if you see a very tiny girl wandering around the bridge, please
take good care of her- she didn't live long enough to even learn what it's
like to be a ferret.
 
Sadly,
Robynn McCarthy
[Posted in FML issue 2907]