Condolences to those with lost, sick, or angeled ear-cleaners...
 
("Get that tongue out of my ear!  It's already been cleaned!")
 
Fuzzer, my Alpha male, has passed over the Rainbow Bridge.  He was a
fighter to the last.  Apparently, he was suffering from dehydration.
However, he didn't look like it at all, nor did he act like anything was
at all wrong.  Then, Thursday night, when it was time to let him and his
cagemates out to play, he didn't want to come out.  I saw that there was
something wrong and took him out to see what I could find.
 
When I scuffed his neck, the skin didn't drop down quickly, so I knew
that he was having a problem with dehydration.  I gave him some water,
but he didn't seem too anxious to drink it.  I used a dropper and got
some in him, until he began to refuse it, then let him down.  He trotted
off into the living room and ducked under the luv seat.
 
When I checked on him about an hour later, he was still there, so I gave
him more water.  I repeated this for several hours and he seemed to be
willing to take the water each time.  However, he didn't seem to feel
any better.  I called the emergency pet clinic, but they had no
ferret-knowledgeable vets handy and they had no testing facilities
available.  Back to the water-by-dropper method.
 
About 2:15 a.m. on Friday, I went to his cage to check on him and get
him out for more water.  He perked up and followed me to the cage, then
sniffed my hand when I reached in to get him.  He was still solid as a
rock and very heavy, which seemed unusual, when compared to others that
I've gone through the dehydration routine with.
 
I took him out and carried him to the couch and started giving him water.
Again, though he wasn't really into it, he did drink what I was giving
him with the dropper.  Then, in the middle of it all, he suddenly
thrashed about for a moment and I felt his heart stop.  He then started
breathing really hard for several seconds, then stopped altogether.  I
tried mouth-to-nose breathing and massaged his chest, but he just shook
for a bit, then relaxed.  He was gone.
 
I carried him around the house for about 20 minutes, hoping he would
somehow recover.  His tail had bushed out, telling me he saw the grim
reaper and fought him tooth and nail.  However, it was his time, whether
he and I wanted him to go, or not.
 
He was my big Alpha boy, in charge of everything in the house--even me.
Now that he's gone, there is a huge vacuum that no other ferret seems to
want to fill.  I know we shouldn't play favorites, but he was my favorite
of all the ferrets I've had.  Losing him will take a long time to get
over.  Its amazing just how much pain the loss of such a small life can
cause to us big humans.  They are so special, in so many ways.
 
The ironic thing was, the next day (Saturday), my vet called to let me
know that he was not able to schedule Fuzzer for his Adrenal surgery.
He was even set to give me a huge discount, for helping him with the Dr.
Weiss video.  Damn, this hurts.
 
Todd and the (Extremely sad) Fuzzbutt Rodeo Clowns
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[Posted in FML issue 4068]