Hello,
 
I have never posted about losing a ferret before, but some of you who
e-mailed me advice wanted to know how Jasper was doing.  I put Jasper to
sleep last Monday, which was one of the hardest things I have ever had to
do.  I just wanted to tell you all a little bit about a very special
ferret.
 
Jasper came to us from an area pet store when he was 5 weeks old.  He could
not hold his head up or walk in a straight line, and had difficulty eating.
The pet store did not want to put him to sleep, so they called me, as Path
Valley Farms would refund their money on him if he was either put to sleep
or turned over to a shelter.  Jasper fit end to end in the palm of my hand.
I had never seen a ferret so small before.  He had to be hand fed the first
week we had him, and he cried constantly.  As Jasper got older, it became
evident that there was something wrong with him.  Even though he was
getting bigger, he still could not hold his head up and still, it was
always cocked to the side and it was always moving, except when he stopped
to look at something, or when he was sleeping.  His walking tended to be in
kind of a zig zag.  We took him into our vet, who took x-rays and ran blood
tests, but nothing out of the ordinary showed up.  My husband became quite
attached to him, and wanted to keep him, so in spite of my objections at
the time, he stayed.
 
We also discovered that Jasper, who was a beautiful blaze (chocolate,
siamese, sable???), was deaf.  In spite of his deafness and his head tilt,
he was the sweetest, most playful ferret I have ever had the privelege to
know.  As Jasper turned 1, and then 2, he always acted like a kit, always
playful and always affectionate (although he had a hard time giving kisses
with his head bobbing around).  Our 50 lb dog, who is terrified of ferrets
in general, would let Jasper sleep with her and crawl on her, as if she
knew there was something special about Jasper.  We affectionately referred
to Jasper as out 'autistic' ferret.  We could take him anywhere and let
anyone handle him, and he was a sweetheart.  The only downside was that he
would not get along with any other ferrets, although we tried many times.
Jasper was so funny to play with, he would just give us this look, and then
come charging back.  He was always hungry for attention, and always ready
to play.
 
About 4 months ago, when Jasper was 2 1/2 yrs old, he started wheezing, and
sounding congested.  I took him to 4 different vets, each one had a
different idea as to what might be wrong.  We took x-rays of his chest, and
put him on antibiotics, decongestants, and prednisone, trying to fix the
problem.  Nothing worked.  A few weeks later I noticed his eye was bulging
out slightly.  We took an x-ray of his head, it showed that there might be
something there, but we couldn't tell what.  I consulted with ferret vets
in different parts of the country.  Dr. Weiss was the most helpful, he
suggested a sinus infection, and that we needed to do a sinus flush.  The
night before the surgery, Jasper started bleeding from his nose.  During
the surgery, my vet removed 3ccs of blood from Jasper's head.  We assumed
that a vessel had burst somewhere.  Right after the surgery, Jasper seemed
to be doing better for a few days, then went downhill again.  I tried
stronger antibiotics on Dr. Weiss's advice, still no improvement.  My vet
tried a strong antihistamine, nothing.  Dr. Weiss suggested another sinus
flush, but my vet was wary of doing it as Jasper had stopped breathing
during the first surgery, and had to be bagged until he woke up.
 
Another vet that I talked to suggested a needle biopsy, to find out just
what it was that we were dealing with, but none of my local vets wanted
to put Jasper under anesthetic again, so I drove down to Kansas State
Veterinary College.  As time went on, Jasper's eye was bulging more and
more.  The results of the biopsy were not good, osteoma, a bone tumor.
Incurable medically, surgery was the only option.  The vets at K-State said
the tumor was inoperable, looking at Jasper's x-rays.  I however, was not
willing to just give up, and so I tried to find a vet that would be willing
to do the surgery, I figured as long as Jasper had to go down, I would
rather go down fighting.  I was unable to find anyone to do this though.
My vet suggested putting Jasper on Interferon, as it is still a relatively
new drug, and has been known to treat tumors in some instances.  I even
found an article where a human girl had been treated with Interferon for
a blood filled bone tumor, with 100% success.  So, I had some hope again.
 
I took Jasper off of all of his meds, and put him just on the Interferon.
Once I did this, his activity level went up, he seemed to breathe a little
easier, and he no longer seemed to be in any pain.  In the article I had
read about the girl with the tumor, it had taken 6 weeks to work.  So, I
patiently waited.  However, the tumor did not.  It continued to slowly
grow.  Last weekend, after being on the Interferon for 8 weeks, I noticed
that Jasper was starting to show signs of being in pain again, and then I
noticed that the tumor was starting to grow through the roof of his mouth.
All through this I had been full of hope that Jasper was going to be the
miracle ferret, that the Interferon would work on him like it did on the
girl in the article.  But it had been 8 weeks, and no signs of shrinking,
and I couldn't let him suffer just because I didn't want to give up.  So,
on Monday, after giving him constant attention all weekend, I took him in
to be put to sleep.  I still keep thinking, what if I had tried a higher
dosage, what if I had obtained an injectable instead of an oral dose, what
if I had waited a little longer.  But I couldn't make him suffer in the
meantime, as much as I wanted to keep him here.
 
I will always miss him, he touched my heart in a special way that few
ferrets have.  I hope that he is once again frolicking happily at the
rainbow bridge, and that he will someday be waiting to greet me as I
cross.
 
I miss you Jasper.
 
Hug all of your fuzzies tight while you have them here with you, and enjoy
every precious minute.
 
Shelley Knudsen
Pre-Veterinary Student   UNK
Legion of Superferrets of Nebraska Ferret Shelter
[log in to unmask]    http://www.tcgcs.com/~ferrets
402-463-0190   402-461-6541
fax: 253-981-1054
[Posted in FML issue 2842]