My heart is again breaking as I have had to witness two more shelter kids
go the Bridge.  BJ, a 5 yr old naked girl is gone today only 5 days after
surgery.  she was doing so well in the sick room eating and drinking on
her own.  she was even starting to show signs of hair growing back already.
At 11am this morning, she went into distress and 5 minutes later was gone.
I will have her sent in for a necropsy tommorrow.
 
Kodo was our brave little paraplegic who someone kicked and paralyzed.  He
used to run around on a roller skate I modified with my dremel tool.  He
will leave his mark on many folks heart as he was seen on channel 9 here in
Denver and will also be seen on Animal Planet soon running around on his
skate and enjoying life.  I suspect heart failure.  We gave him six months
more of life than he would have had if he went to a vet and didn't have us
to be in his life A necropsy will show the real cause.
 
Some of you out there don't realize how taxing on your body and soul
shelter work can be.  Please support your local shelter.  A donation of
time, supplies, cash, or even a kind word for the hard work they ALL do
is appreciated.  Tonite as I write this, I am crying for the loss of my
shelter kids who struggled so valiantly to stay here on earth and suffer
with us through this misery we are all subjected to.  I am happy they are
in a better place and look forward to the day when I can join them.  By my
side is a ferret who I don't even know... he is siezing and crying in pain.
I have administered phenobarbitol to stop the seizing and have him on an IV
of Ringers.  he should calm down in a few minutes.  It is sad to watch some
of the things that happens to these little guys, and I am happy when we
save them.  Everyone here at the shelter puts out so much to save these
ferrets and as now, we get down on ourselves for this and that when we
lose one.
 
BY THE WAY, I ONLY WORK ON FERRETS THAT BELONG TO THE SHELTER!!  IF YOU
BRING YOUR FERRET TO ME AND EXPECT ME TO SAVE IT BECAUSE YOU CAN'T AFFORD
TO, BE READY TO SURRENDER YOUR FERRET AND NOT GET IT BACK.!!!  IF YOU
CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY YOUR VET BILL, YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO OWN A FERRET.
 
We will spend whatever it takes to save any ferret as long as we can
recognize that after medical care, it will see an improvement in its
life.  If the vet does not see a chance of recovery and I agree with his
prognosis, I let the vet handle it appropriately.  If I disagree with my
vet, and I do many times, I will bring the ferret back to the shelter where
we will spend countless hours around the clock saving the ferret.  We have
two here now that were supposed to die a month ago.  Both are recovering
and gaining weight.  Both will need months of PT to regain the use of their
limbs.  I want to challenge all who own ferrets to consider the situation
their ferret is in and if that ferret was a brother, sister, mother or
father human, to what extremes would you go to save their lives if they
were sick.  Todays society says it's ok to put an animal out of its misery
if it is suffering, but not ok to do it to humans.  If suffering were the
criteria for ending a living beings life, then I too would be dead today.
Anyone who has never had your chest cracked open and had heart surgery
better know now that you will suffer and feel lots of pain.  Sure, they can
give you drugs to alleviate some of the pain, but they would have to give
you fatal doses to totally get rid of the pain.  My point, life is hard
sometimes for us and our pets.  Euthanasia is not the answer in some of
the cases I read about in this forum.  Life is precious and every minute of
joy a ferret can give you is worth the time and money you should spend to
get them well and back on their feet.  They may not ever be the same, but
honestly, neither will I.  Yet I will continue to save as many ferrets as
I can, educate as many people as I can, and help wherever I can to bring
information and support to the ferret lovers of the world.  Your ferret
may not be able to tell you that they want to live, but they do.  Give them
the chance.
 
Hugs to all,
Ferretguy
[Posted in FML issue 3209]