Hello all,
 
Been a while since I posted to the list, tend to lurk more than anything
even after 9+ years with the list...but felt I would share my happy
thanksgiving this year...
 
My youngest Percival (who really is almost 7.5 so hardly that young) all
of a sudden showed a sudden weight loss, lack of appetite and excessive
lethargy.  He was also grinding his teeth a lot as well.  With him curled
up in my lap I dove into the multitudes of ferret documentation I keep
around the house checking symptoms and not finding anything that quite
fit the bill.  He looked so weak and emaciated almost over night that I
was afraid that he had cancer or something else soon to be life ending.
Wednesday evening we made a quick trip to the vet, because I was clueless
and my vet is a stellar ferret vet.
 
I was expecting terrible news and the vet said that she was certain he had
a hairball filling his stomach.  I was kind of surprised.  After 9 years
it was the first time any of my fuzzies had had any kind of trouble with
a hairball.  He had emergency surgery later than evening.  The vet pulled
a mass of hair about 2.5 inches in diatmet from his little tummy.  No
wonder he wasn't eating!!  There was no room in his stomach for food!
 
On Thanksgiving evening I picked him up and even post op his energy level
and appearance was dramatically improved.  Now, despite the stitched up
incision on his abdomen he is mostly back to his old self.  I was afraid
that the end was near and now everything is great!  This was good news for
the family as my parents had just lost their first cat to pancreatitis on
Monday, sadly.  He was only 8 years old.  Sometimes it just seems that we
don't get enough time with our fuzzies before they are gone.
 
Just wanted to share my happy Thanksgiving with everyone.  Dooks to all
those with new additions to the families and hugs to all of those who have
lost their fuzzies in recent months.
 
Butch
Zoe, Percival and George the cat
[Posted in FML issue 3614]