Fritz was a rescue from a backyard breeder.  Born in 2000, he was about 6
months old when we got him and just full of life.  We adored him.
 
His best buddy was Tasha, who he escaped with one night in July 2002
through a hole in the porch screen.  We managed to find him but we never
found Tasha.  Being that he was still so young, and my other two were
older, we decided to adopt again.  That's when we brought Fiona home.
 
Fritz and Fiona bonded right away.  We were dealing with the losses of
Max and then Hannah.
 
Sometime toward the middle or end of March, I noticed that Fritz was
beginning to put on weight.  He ended up putting on almost 2 extra
pounds -- obese!  We thought it was the dog food he snatched when he was
out, so we cut him off of that.  Took him to the vet and had complete
bloodwork run, which we intended to use as a baseline for the future, and
everything showed up as normal and healthy.  Just to rule out anything
medical, we did X-rays (normal), fecal tests (normal) and urine tests
(normal).  He was put on a "diet" and we took him outside for daily
walks -- alas, the weight didn't go away.
 
He started losing hair on his back and the base of his tail -- classic
adrenal.  Despite his size we decided to do the surgery anyway, because
everything else looked healthy, and we had no reason to think there would
be a problem.  The left one was cut out, the right was cryo'd, but there
was some remaining tissue -- the vet couldn't see everything because of
the fat.  He said he'd never seen such a fat ferret.  He was about 4 lbs.
4 oz. then.  Vet checked the pancreas and everything looked fine.
 
Fritz's recovery was a little slower because of his size.  With his
tender suture area it made it hard for him to pick up his belly and walk,
so he kind of half-dragged himself around.  Everything seemed to be
healing well.  We had made plans to go on vacation a year ago, so 11 days
after his surgery we left him with one of our friends, one of the most
ferret-knowledgeable non-vets I know.  (She ran a shelter and rescue for
many years.) Thirteen days after the surgery, she took the stitches out.
The top half had healed beautifully but the bottom half had not.  The
internal stomach wall stitches were fine -- it was the outside skin
stitches that didn't hold.  She had him restitched while we were away.
 
When we came back he had already popped one of the stitches, so I took
him to my regular vet last Monday to be fixed up.  She glued him shut.
By the time I got home one of the areas had come apart, so Tuesday she
put him under and completely restitched him.  That seemed to hold for the
time being.  He had also lost some weight -- he was down to 3 lbs.  14.5
oz.  But my friend had expressed concern about his eating and drinking
habits -- he was doing both incessantly and had huge puddles of dilute
urine.
 
Wednesday night I noticed he was panting and it seemed as though he was
struggling to breathe.  We had the AC on so I got worried and took him to
the animal ER.  He was kept in oxygen overnight and they did bloodwork --
his blood glucose was 551.  His electrolyte ratio from the adrenal
surgery was good.  I took him back to the vet on Thursday morning and
she kept him and reran the blood work.  She ran 4 more BGs and none
of them were under 350 -- even after a 4-hour fast!  He had some
infection/inflammation so was put on an additional antibiotic (he was
already on amoxi) and also put on carafate.  And, rare as it is, she
diagnosed him with diabetes.  So he was also put on 1 unit of insulin
once a day to start.
 
Friday he started the insulin.  He seemed perkier Friday and even
Saturday he seemed okay.  Sunday he was a little slower and didn't want
to eat much (although he did munch on some popcorn, his favorite treat).
He also seemed to be breathing with more effort.  We took him outside and
he walked/dragged around.  I noticed the stitches seemed to be coming
undone again.  By the evening he was agitated unless we were holding him
and then around dinnertime I noticed his body temp seemed a little low.
But since I knew I'd be going in again for the stitches I waited.  By
midnight he was dead.
 
Sandee or SaraFerret, please help Fritz find Hannah so they can fight
over the banana-man toy, and Max so he can wrestle around with him.  Let
Fritz know I'm miserable thinking he suffered.  My heart is breaking
because I didn't realize things were that bad.  I hate myself for letting
him be in any discomfort for any amount of time.  I will never forgive
myself for what happened.  I hope he knows how much he was loved, how
much the kids loved him and his daddy and I.  How much we will miss him
and how sorry I am -- I am SO SORRY my darling!  My Fritzy-Ritz cracker.
My baby.
 
Amy, Dave, Sarah & Paul (and their gaggle of ferrets -- not giggling
today)
 
RIP Ian, Elektra, Claudia, Sidney, Max & Hannah
And our newest angel Fritz (RIP 5/28/00-9/5/04)
Missing Tasha
[Posted in FML issue 4629]