On May 8th, less than 1 week after his son, Taz, had to be helped to the
Rainbow Bridge by his loving Mom, Julie Fossa, White Russian lost his 2
year fight against Aleutian disease.  Months ago, Russian developed heart
and respiratory problems which had been controlled with medication and,
for the past few weeks, 4 daily nebulizer treatments.  On May 7th, he
was not responding well to those treatments.  The next day, he went into
respiratory distress and treatments only helped for a few minutes.  He was
unable to get comfortable and got up every few minutes, wheezing, gagging
and choking.  My vet, who had been treating Russian's symptoms for almost
2 years, met me at the clinic and felt that there was nothing we could do
for him once the nebulizer no longer helped.
 
Russian had again been very aggressive towards his cagemates the last
few weeks and had to be separated from them.  He was up a lot during the
night, angrily knocking litter boxes out of his way, etc., obviously in a
rage.  Many nights he didn't sleep much.  I gave him some pain medication
before we left for the vet's and soon he gave a sigh and lost the tension
that had become a part of his life.  He was awake, but was once again the
calm, sweet boy he had been most of his life.  Because in my heart I knew
what was coming, I held him close and spoke to him about the Rainbow
Bridge and that he would see his best friend, Charmin' Charlie again.  I
told him how much I loved him and what an impact his life has had, making
people care about Aleutian disease.  At the vet's, he kissed me good-bye.
It was so incredibly hard not to just run out the door to take him home
again.
 
There are many, many people I need to thank for their support and help
in getting White Russian's message out, but that will have to wait for
another time.  For now, though, I have to thank, from the bottom of my
heart, the author of the poem contained in the post immediately following
this one, as well as the friend who sent it to me.  I hope and pray that
my dear friends, as well as the hundreds of people who have written to me
over the years about how White Russian has affected them, will forgive me
for not being able to write to each of them individually at this time.  I
also apologize for not letting those friends know immediate of Russian's
death, but I had to lock up my grief for a time so that I could attend
the Three Rivers ferret show that was held to benefit Aleutian disease
research.  Julie Fossa also attended, despite her so very recent loss of
her beloved Taz.
 
Should anyone wish to make a donation to Aleutian disease research, or to
Dr. Bruce Williams tissue bank in either White Russian's or Taz' name, it
would be appreciated more than Julie or I could possible say.
 
Judy
Please give to Aleutian Disease research - ALEUTIAN DISEASE KILLS!
http://www.geocities.com/russiansmom/
[Posted in FML issue 3782]