My beautiful, big, cuddly black-eyed (actually the vet said he had blue
eyes!) white, Mulder, died last Friday from pneumonia.
 
He was only 3 years old, very big (around 3kg) and strong so the whole
thing has left me shattered.  There was no warning - he sneezed a couple
of times but nothing huge, he wasn't too energetic but neither were the
other five ferrets we have, and immediately I saw he was breathing heavily,
I whisked him down to the vet.
 
I had him on Betamox but but after a couple of days it was obvious it
wasn't helping so I took him back to the vet and she kept him in hospital.
She pumped him full of medicine, had a vaporizer blowing into his cage to
help his breathing, and it seemed to work.  Every day he seemed to be
getting better and stronger.
 
I saw him last Thursday and he was looking pretty good.  The vet reckoned I
could have him back within a couple of days, then Friday morning I got a
call to say he'd died during the night.  I was shattered.
 
I just want to pass on the warning my vet gave me - she reckons pneumonia
is going to be the great "leveller" for humans and pets because the virus
is mutating so fast that the antibiotics aren't working.
 
No one in my family had a cold so I have no idea where Mulder picked up his
virus.  Thank goodness all the other ferrets are okay but I'm keeping an
eye out.  Talk about paranoid - but this came way out from left field and
was so sudden that I'm still reeling.
 
Keep an eye on your babies and if instinct tells you something is up, rush
them down to the vet.  Don't wait for symptoms for it may be too late then.
 
At least Scully has a playmate now :>(
[Posted in FML issue 2899]