Hi,
 
I need some information about kidney failure and I haven't been able to
find much on the internet.  Please help me to understand this so that I
may help my baby.  What is it exactly?  Is there a cure?  Is it painful?
What is the life expectancy once diagnosed?  Is she going to die?
 
That's stupid I've known for over a month now that she is dying.
 
Stinky is 3 and half years old, a joy, a sweetheart, a troublemaker, a mess
maker, a nose nipper.  Thinking of her breaks my heart and makes me smile
at the same time.  She is very special, hence the name Stinky.... such a
small wild bundle of trouble.  And so beautiful....I know you are supposed
to love all the kids the same but she stole my heart and holds a place that
can never be replaced.
 
Okay back to her history.  She had an obstruction when she was a year old,
another when she was 2 both requiring surgery which she bounced back from
right away.  Sometime after turning 3 she started losing hair, adrenal.  We
tried Lipton?  shots for 3 months, they didn't help so we went ahead with
more surgery.  She never really recovered, it seemed to me anyway that she
was just slipping away.  I took her back to my vet she agreed something was
wrong, maybe insulinoma, maybe ulcers.  We treated with Carafete and she
is on Pred .3 ml 2x a day.  Her weight continually drops.  After her last
surgery the tech wrote on her chart 1.5 but I don't know if that was ounces
or 1 and a half lbs.  Since then we have been carefully weighing her on a
digital scale.  She went down to 1.3 ounces then up to 1.4, this week she
is down to 1.1 ounce.  I do feed her chicken baby food 2x a day before she
gets her Pred.  I haven't seen her eat any kibble (TF) or drink any water
(except from the tree once in a while) but I work 10 hours a day 6 days a
week.
 
Someone posted last week about a sweet smell coming from her ferret.
It turns out that ferret had diabetes I think.  After reading that I
remembered that Tink had an odd odor sometimes.  I gave her a bath but it
didn't go a way, I could tell was coming from her mouth and was foul.  Back
to the vets we went, maybe kidney failure, more blood test... came back
normal (110 whatever that means).  Dr. Karen had to try 3x to get that 1
drop so it was out of the question to get more blood for to test for kidney
failure.  At this point any surgery isn't an option.
 
I'm now giving her sub-q fluids (20 cc) daily for a week hoping (I'm
assuming) to build up her blood for another test.  We have an appointment
on Monday.
 
I get a knot in my stomach just looking at her, she is all bones.  You can
count her ribs, her spine, she her little blue veins... her heart beat.
It is pathetic.  Sitting in the Dr.'s wafting room the other night a woman
said after seeing Stink that she looks just like a miniature dinosaur bone
exhibit at the museum.  She's lost her spunk, her reason for living, she
never leaves her cage.  I have to take her out for meds then I put her on
the floor to roam around but within 2 minutes she is in her cage in bed
back to sleep.  She does wake up for the baby food though.
 
I can't describe how hard it is to give her fluids, not physically but
emotionally.  I would rather let her go than do that long term.
 
I think I've rambled on enough.  Thank you for listening to me, I feel
better.
 
On a lighter note, you know your a ferret owner.....
 
When you beg, demand and yes even whine about how you can't live one more
day with out a state of the art sewing machine.  Then proceed to sew one
truly get Super Ferret costume.  Come in 2nd place win a ribbon, take a
victory walk and then put that nasty contraption in the back of the closet
where all the machine monsters belong :-)
 
Thanks again,
Deanna, Stinky and a feeling left out Pepper
[Posted in FML issue 3266]