Hi friends,
We take Daddy's Baby Girl to the vet tomorrow along with Baily and Cher.
All are adrenal and insulinomic.  I'm hoping to hear that all can get
ready for surgery despite their ages being 6 to 8.  If they tell us they
are good candidates for surgery then we are looking at 11 surgeries in
the next few months.
 
I am so angry at my new niece and her husband right now.  They brought
over 8 hairless rats Friday night.  That was no problem except that they
were in a 10 gallon aquarium.  They've had these guys since they were
babies so that means that for at LEAST 8 months these guys have had no
room.  They weren't taken out to exercise or anything.  They brought them
to my daughter to give to me at midnight because they didn't want to
listen to me.  That's fine at least they're out of their care now.  I
called my son at 6:30 A.M. on Saturday and asked him to come and fix me
a new cage.  They are now in a 4x4x3 cage with homemade ramps and a built
in sleep box on the top shelf.  I was very proud of him.  He did a great
job and didn't complain about me waking him up at the crack of dawn on
his day off.  And he told me he'd build them some tunnels that attach to
the inside of the cage so they can have some fun.  AND he offered to go
beat the man up for me LOL.  Boy was I tempted after I saw what I saw
next!
 
LAST NIGHT they brought over the 3 females.  One was in a separate cage
from the other 2.
 
They brought them to my daughters door and left.  The one that was by
herself has such a HUGE tumor on her stomach hanging down between her
legs.  It is so huge that it drags the ground and if it gets any bigger
her feet won't be able to touch the ground.  I bawled.  My daughter said
that she knew the rat had a tiny knot on it's side about 6 months ago but
it was tiny then.  Since the girls got into a fight my daughter hasn't
been back over there.  So in that amount of time this tumor has went from
tiny on her side to what it is now.  It has slid down to the bottom and
her side is completely clear now.  It looks like it isn't attached to
anything major.  I'm praying that's the case anyway.  My husband tells
me I'm letting myself in for a big let down thinking like that.  Once
again I hope not.  We'll see what the vet says Monday.
 
The girls started talking again about a month ago.  These guys lost their
jobs and didn't have money for food etc.  We gave them dog food and
bought them some groceries but they'd already given their cats and most
of their dogs to the humane society.  They also told us to just feed the
rats every couple of days.  I'm so surprised that these little guys are
alive.  And I'm so grateful they're in my care now even if I don't know
anything about them I've fallen in love with them and am trying to learn
everything I can about them.
 
I love these two very much.  I've known both of them since they were
babies.  I try to remember how bad it was for us when Richard first got
hurt and we went through all of our saving and we were still fighting
workman's comp.  We went a year without an income or anymore savings.
We sold everything we possessed to get us through and ate a .33 cent
candybar for 2 of our meals a day.  It was cheaper than food and our kids
were moved out so they helped what they could.  But one way or another we
always got the ferrets to the vet when needed.  They knew they could ask
but I also remember the pride thing too.  If someone didn't offer to help
us I wouldn't ask.
 
As you can tell I'm trying hard to be understanding but I'm not winning I
think.  One of these guys pointed out at the factory and the other quit
because they didn't want to be the only one working!
 
AND she is trying to conceive a baby.  Say lots of prayers in that
direction, can you imagine.  It's to scary to think about.
 
Please send your prayers and good thoughts with us and the 4 babies as we
go to the vet tomorrow.
 
It is a 2 hour drive one way so we'll start early and maybe most of the
idiots will still be home LOL.
 
Thanks for letting me vent.  I think if I started on these two we'd all
be bawling before it was over with.  I'm so upset for this poor baby.
 
Lois
Missing 8
Hugging 16
[Posted in FML issue 3900]