I want to thank again everybody who sent me information and suggestions when
I was dealing with my sick little Elsa.  I don't know how to say this
because I never have dealt w/this before...
 
Elsa died Monday afternoon.  I came home from work and she was lying
stretched out on the bottom of her cage, very lethargic.  I picked her up
and got into the car w/her on my lap.  She died about two blocks away from
my home.  I managed to get her to the vet w/o any major accidents (it's
pretty hard to drive when you're bawling your eyes out).  The vet was very
surprised she had taken this turn so quickly.  He found out she had died
from a secondary condition called "DIC", which basically means that
"something" (an illness, trauma, etc.) triggered her body to use up all the
clotting agents in her blood.  This means that she bled to death internally.
He said this was very unusual in ferrets, he's only seen it in one ferret
before Elsa.  He also told me I couldn't have done anything for her, once it
starts it's almost impossible to save the animal.  Elsa had been responding
to the antibiotics I had been giving her last week.  On Wednesday the vet
had wanted to give her a break from them to see if she'll do better &
hopefully not have to go back on meds.  Thursday and Friday she was eating
and drinking and her stools looked okay, though still a little too loose.
Saturday she started declining.  When I came home from work Saturday night
her stools had gotten much worse than Sat.  morning.  She was still eating a
little bit though, but less than before.  Sunday she had stopped eating
completely, but was still drinking.  Monday morning she fought me when I was
feeding her, and then went back to bed.  I was planning on taking her to the
vet Mon.  afternoon after work.
 
In retrospect, I remember that she had this blue mark on her abdomen Sat.  I
had thought it was b/c the vet had given her water subcutaneously in her
belly, but that had been over a week prior and this was a fresh internal
bruise.  She was also having trouble walking around Sunday, losing her
balance.  The eeriest thing was when I picked her up on Sat.  night and
Sun., she'd wake up but then go back to sleep in my arms.  I remember
thinking, each time she did that, that was *really* unusual for her.  She
never, ever goes back to sleep in my arms like that.  Never.  I knew then
something wasn't right, she'd have to go back to the vet.
 
I'm still in shock that this happened so quickly.  It makes me feel awful to
know she was going through that over the weekend.  What a horrible way to
die.  I keep thinking if I had gotten home earlier, just twenty minutes
earlier...I miss her.  Sorry this is so long.
 
Minta
& Zooey, Linus, & Martin (& Elsa, wherever you may be)
[Posted in FML issue 2200]