>From:    The Reardon's <[log in to unmask]>
>
>I have read on message boards about many ferts that have a fatal illness
>that are on many meds.  So I know this does happen.  My Aunt had a DNR
>(Do not resuscitate) in her medical records when she had cancer.  When
>our ferts are very ill.  They can not tell us that they love us, but
>would rather go to the rainbow bridge, then suffer the way they are.  I
>would welcome any and all opinions.  But please, no flames.
 
Well, here's my opinion/experience, no flames.  This is something that's
been on my mind a lot lately, because I can see that my Amelia is
declining, and she is certainly alive only with the assistance of
supporting medication.  My feeling that as long as she is mentally alert,
affectionate and has a good appetite, she wants to keep going, and so
I'll help her to do that.  Her illnesses are terminal; my vet did list
chemotherapy as a possible treatment for Amelia's lymphoma, but in my
opinion that would hard on Amelia and probably wouldn't get her any
quality time anyway, and might even make the time she has left a lower
quality.  At this point we continue with supportive treatment but any
more aggressive measures would be selfish on my part.  I suppose we have
the equivalent of a ferret DNR.
 
I sometimes wonder if I had let Cully go on for longer than he would have
liked, but there's no way to second guess these things.  You just have to
go with your gut feeling at the time and stay focused on the ferret's
happiness and comfort and the likelihood of quality life given various
treatment options.  And when Cully was ready to go, it was unmistakable,
really and truly.  Again at the vet's office we were offered blood
transfusions and so forth, but I knew Cully was done here.
 
As much as it can be hard to accept your own ferret's suffering, I think
it can also be hard to tell as an outside observer whether somebody else's
ferret is suffering too much or not, especially over the internet or
phone.  Only the owner knows the ferret's personality and habits and can
say whether life is going ok for that ferret or not.  I've seen one
seizure, not a very big one, in Amelia and my mom thinks it's now time,
before things get worse.  But I don't think Amelia's thinking that, and
that's what counts.  Things may get worse for her, I don't know.  We won't
know until we get there.
 
Regina
 
Regina Harrison [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
http://www.channel1.com/users/regina/
blog: http://www.channel1.com/users/regina/zblog.html
 
Is that my business?  Well, what is my business?  Do I know?  Did I ever
know?  Let s not go into that.  You re not human tonight, Marlowe.  Maybe
I never was or ever will be... Maybe we all get like this in the cold
half-lit world where always the wrong thing happens and never the right.
 
--Raymond Chandler, The Little Sister
[Posted in FML issue 3749]