Hi, folks.  There's a lot of stuff I should respond to, but just don't feel
up to it right now, though I will mention something for the person whose
ferret eats aloe because it is probably not common knowledge.  Your ferret's
urine may turn scarlet if it eats enough for a long enough time.  Years ago
there was a fad among seniors (There are a LOt of elderly with no knowledge
of biology who tend to get into trying superstition cures for ageing, then a
person has to convince them to say what they have done and scare up info.)
of eating aloe and at that point Poison Control knew only that it could
cause digestive upset and would turn urine scarlet; they might know more
now, since I advised them of the fad and required their help for someone at
what appeared to be the beginning of that trend.
 
Okay, I am avoiding having to mention our bad news.  Meltdown's problem is
ventricular bigemini (I may have this wrong.  I need to read up on it but
first I need to get calm enough; her ventricle tends to put in two rather
than one beat -- it's just too stretched in the critical area for the
electrical signals to move properly.) from dilated cardiomyopathy without
fluid accumulation.  Right now she is on Enacard, but not on Lasix since it
would dehydrate her, and several veterinary cardiologists are trying to
figure which pharmacological approach would be the best to try with her
since the drugs which would help her rhythm are also ones which are toxic to
heart muscle or would suppress heart function.  Although her heart did not
appear enlarged on x-ray the sonogram and EKG showed some enlargement,
definite thinning of the walls, and impairment.  The long and short of it is
that our little seven and half year old is going away.  We don't know how
long she has.  If there were fluid retention, too, then it might be weeks or
a few short months at most.  Since there is not, perhaps with careful
management and more than a bit of luck she might be sharing hugs and cuddles
for another half year or so.
 
(Our vet is Hanan Caine at 1-908-766-0506 if any vets here have experience
with this particular variant of cardiomyopathy.  He's tops.)
 
Bill, we need the cardiomyopathy fax.  Will send a request.
 
For those who want to know about Meltie: We picked her up from Path Valley
Farms years ago.  Although we hadn't planned on getting one so young she was
in the office to have her stitches out at 5 weeks and this tiny silver-mitt
sterling just claimedSteve; it was a very strong love at first sight
situation so we drove home with her that day even though she was not one of
the ones presented to us.  She fit in the palm of my hand, and I have small
hands.  When we showed her a bit of cheeseburger she exclaimed "Yip, yap,
yip, yap!" and tore into it.  Between her level of energy, the proximity of
the breeder to Three Mile Island, and her affinity for melted cheese
"Meltdown" was the most descriptive name.  Meltie's only quirk is that she
has gleaning genes; she'll accept ferrets which acquire handicaps but she
has always wanted to destroy Ruffle who was born with multiple handicaps.
Actually, she has always been excellent with anyone who is ill, even when
Ruffle is ill she will fuss to get us to take a look into Ruffle's cage,
banging and then running up the bottom of Ruffie's cage (Those two main
cages are stacked) and bumping upward.  When Hjalmar had cancer we would
vary where he slept at night (master bathroom, or right next to the bed at
eye level, or in the living room by his favorite window) depending on how he
was doing.  When he was in a cage in the living room we would put Meltdown
out there in another cage (He could get grumpy with pain, as would anyone.)
right next to it and she would force herself to stay up all night and keep
an eye on him.  If anything went wrong she would bang and scream for us.
Since Hjalmar was a cancer patient for 14 months we probably wouldn't have
survived without her help letting us have occasional night off.  When we
took in Warp in late '94 we presented her to Meltdown with the explanation,
"Meltdown Mommy's baby; Warp Meltdown's baby." and that is exactly how she
treated her, to the point of doing Warp's litter training for us.  Meltie
would decide that Warp had to go and she'd drag her to a pot and shove her
in.  Then she wouldn't let her out till she had gone.  Meltdown has been a
perfect alpha, maybe because she never seemed to want the job.  We suspect
that power was never her thing.  She's been almost always gentle but firm
with the others.  Her patrolling chores are something she takes very
seriously.  One night there was a crash in the middle of the night, and when
I went out to check she banged her (the big one with most of the ferrets)
cage and yelled at me so hard that I knew that I was not supposed to
investigate it without her.  It was just a candle, and she was the one who
found it, but I was very flattered by her care (though it may simply have
been curiousity or duty).  Just several days before she dropped out so badly
I found her dragging a pair of Steve's shorts under the bed.  Your know
those rare times when things just mesh?  I wound up singing right then and
there " I caught Meltdown dragging Daddy's drawers underneth our queen-size
bed today; stashing his underwear, though her own butt was bare...".  She
loved it, but then I never said she had taste.  She also gave us one of our
best examples of ferrets understanding what we say if we just keep it simple
and restrict our work usage.  Warp had fallen asleep somewhere so Meltdown
was told something along the lines of "Where's Warp?  Meltdown get Warp,
then Daddy give Meltdown tube treat" repeated a few times.  She ran to our
platform bed, climbed the side, rooted around in there and climbed back out
dragging Warp by the neck.  Then she deposited Warp on Steve's foot, looked
up, and licked her chops.
 
This is a very sad time for us; we hope she has as much time as possible
before her and that it does not become painful.  Right now she mostly wants
to sleep and cuddle us.  We've set up a special cage for her and she sees
the others only when she wants to, which hasn't been often this week, and
only for as long as she wants.  She's close enough to smell them.
 
    Sukie, Steve, Meltdown, Ruffle (who also has heart disease but not
cardiomyopathy), 'Chopper, Spot, Meeteetse, and Warp
[Posted in FML issue 1517]