Thank you to everyone who emailed me with advise and support about the
prognosis for Rocky, who was diagnosed with spinal tumors (ie, bone
cancer in his spine?) on Thursday. Sadly for us, Rocky has crossed the
bridge. Hopefully he is now romping and playing with new friends, and
will be waiting to welcome his old cagemates someday. :(
Rocky seemed his normal self until Wednesday evening when we let him
out to play and saw that his right back leg was not functioning. He
didn't seem to be in pain or distress, so we made plans to get him to
the vet ASAP Thursday. By Thursday morning, his left hind leg stopped
working too. The vet took an X-ray and diagnosed tumors in the 4th and
5th vertebra. He said he sees this several times a year in dogs and
that is always been terminal, and very fast acting. We opted to take
Rocky home, and started him on prednisone, in the hopes that it would
reduce swelling and give him some comfort.
Friday morning, Rocky seemed bright eyed and begging to get of his
cage, even if he couldn't use his back legs at all. But by mid-day
Friday, he seemed restless and uncomfortable, and wasn't peeing much.
We took him to a different vet (our regular vet left town for the
weekend) who helped show us how to express his bladder. We got him home
and he slept peacefully for a few hours, but when we woke him to give
him the next does of meds, he had a large lump protruding out of the
left side of his abdominal area. It was alarming that it had appeared
out of nowhere and grew so quickly. I knew then that he probably wasn't
going to get better or last long.
By this morning, that lump had continued to grow and distort his body,
and he was clearly uncomfortable and "not himself". (Though of course
he and Lavender were sleeping curled up together, as always). He had
lost control of his functions and was looking pretty "zoned out". We
made the decision to euthanize him at noon. :*( Even I could tell
there was a lot of changes happening rapidly inside his little body. He
wasn't totally "out of it" but I have a feeling that, with the speed
things were progressing, it would not have done him any good to wait
longer. The pred didn't seem to be doing anything for him in the
roughly 48 hours we could give it.
Rocky was just four years old. We adopted him from The Ferret Nook in
Cambridge, WI (http://www.ferretnook.org).
He joined our family 2 years ago, when we lost our beloved Nigel (also
to cancer). Our little female Lavender was pining for Nigel (as was I)
and Rocky helped us so much with our grief. I'm so thankful Rocky
joined our family, even if the time seemed far too short. He was the
classic "big male", he was always totally sweet with me, but wasn't too
fond of my husband, LOL (even though hubby was the one sleep on a cot
next to his cage in the last couple of days). Rocky also wasn't too
fond of our 95 lb black lab, and could send her running across the
house at full tilt when he decided to reminder her who was boss. :)
He was a joyful player and perfect gentleman (at least to the female
ferrets and humans, if not the dog).
Here's a picture of Rocky and Lavy snuggling...
<http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1285535343233.42868.1375643230&l=aad1419040#!/photo.php?fbid=2207694676640&set=a.1285535343233.42868.1375643230&type=1&lDaad1419040&theater>
[Not too surprising with an 180 character link: Facebook login
required to view. BIG]
Thanks again for the support. It really sucks to lose a ferret who
hasn't had a chance to get "old", and we had no warning at all. He was
the youngest of our 5 ferrets (the other 3 are anti-social and didn't
play with Rocky or Lavy), and I had always imagined he would be the
last one standing of this group. :*(
Jillian Steffes
"In the end, we will conserve only what we love...
we will love only what we understand...
we will understand only what we are taught."
- Lao-Tsu 490 B.C.
[Posted in FML 7111]
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