Reagan
 
Reagan came to us with her mates Bubbles, Maria and Bianca from New
Jersey.  While Maria was sometimes nippy, Reagan would make sure she
let you know who she was.  But all you had to do was say "no bite" and
she'd let go.  We knew Reagan was health compromised when she came to us.
All the girls needed adrenal surgeries, and we found out that Reagan had
had both of hers removed.  We lost Bubbles right after surgery-she just
never woke up.  Maria we lost last year due to spleen tumors, and so that
left Reagan and Bianca.  Reagan began to rapidly lose her hair, and she
suddenly developed "cage anxiety".  She'd grab the cage bars and just
shake, race around in the cage.  I let her out one time and she literally
attacked me, and I knew something was up.  Her little abdomen had begun
to swell.
 
On January 17th she went in for exploratory surgery, and I got the call
I knew was coming.  She had a necrotic liver, full of insulinoma tumors,
her body was full of tumors, and her spleen had shrunk, begun to be
necrotic.  I told the vet to just let her go to the Bridge, that I wasn't
going to make her suffer.  I know Bubbles and Maria were waiting for her.
 
 
Frodo
 
Our daughter decided that she wanted to buy one or two ferrets, and she
took me with her.  One silver guy she picked up, asked me what one I
thought was nice, and I was this beautiful champagne/white boy, curled in
a ball, too ill to raise his head, and I told her that one.  She bought
them, and we dubbed the champagne boy Frodo, the silver was Strider.  We
got Frodo over his cold and he was more than a typical boy.  He made the
move from Lafayette to here just fine, loved the tubes in the hall.
Somewhere I picked up a baby's toy-a green and yellow rattling dumbbell,
and you'd see or hear him racing through the house, toy in mouth.  Frodo
would bring it downstairs and hide it, then 15 minutes later he'd be
moving it again.  We noticed he was lowing hair in the typical adrenal
pattern, and although he wasn't sleeping like others, he was starting
to go bald.  He went in with Reagan on 1/17.  The vet removed his right
one, said it was just perfect for removal, no invasion of the vena cava,
no wrap around, just right, if you can call it that.  Frodo had some
bleeding, and so the vet put a bandage around him.  I made sure he drank
water, had a bit of food, and I held him.  He wanted to walk around, and
so I watched him.  I kept checking on him because he just didn't seem
quite right, although I've had them like this before.  I got up the
morning of the 18th, pulled the cover off his cage and saw him stretched
out in his hammock, but then I saw the tail-all poofed out and I knew.  I
grabbed him to discover he was cold, but he'd frothed at the mouth.  I
began the attempt of resuscitation, rubbing him, blowing in his nose, all
the time crying, calling "Frodo, come back" but it wasn't to be.  Our vet
asked to do a post, as he was worried something he'd done had gone wrong.
What he discovered was that Frodo had had a major seizure.  It was either
brought on by stress or sudden hypoglycemia.  He had petichia in his
mouth, lungs, throat.  I know he didn't struggle, but Larry said he heard
him cry out, just once.  I never heard him, which bothers me, because I
always hear them when they make noise, but I didn't hear him.  Frodo was
only 4 years old.
 
Mully, please make sure they're all right.  Strider misses Frodo I know,
but he's doing all right.  Bianca really missed Reagan for quite some
time, but she's adjusting, and one of these days I'm going to try to get
her integrated into a small group so she won't be alone.  Please let them
know I miss them terribly.  Let Reagan know that I did my best for her,
didn't want her to suffer.  And Frodo, let him know if I'd heard him I'd
tried to have saved him, and that Larry didn't realize what was
happening, or he'd gotten me up and we'd both worked on him.  Ask them
to please wait for me.
 
 
Hunter
 
In February we received a call from a rescue operator.  They'd rescued a
ruby-eyed white, found him a home along with another little girl.  The
girl was nippy, and the family decided to bring them back, although they
hinted they'd like to keep Hunter and just send Pepper back, but the
rescue operators said no, both had to come.  They called me, wanting to
know of anyone who might want to take on the little girl, and have Hunter
also.  With all the losses we'd had we knew we could take in a few.  So
on February 7th Hunter and Pepper came to live with us.
 
Hunter was a true gentleman, and so quiet.  We were worried about
depression, so any chance we got we took him in our arms, talking to him,
petting him.  He'd come downstairs, walk around, but inevitably I'd find
him curled up next to another group's cage.  Pepper, his cagemate, is a
holy terror.  We tried to integrate them with one group and he would have
been fine, but she decided no way, and tried to kill Cream Puff!  And so
they stayed in their own cage.  We worked on getting Hunter to eat
chicken gravy for us, and he would, but only hand fed, he refused to eat
out of the bowl on his own.  Last Sunday, 3/7, he ate for me from an eye
dropper and my fingers, almost ate from the bowl.  The next day, 3/8, I
came home from school and Larry brought him to me.  All his weight was
gone, totally gone.  He was cold, curled up.  I didn't know if he'd
suddenly gone into a insulinomic attack or what, but rapidly fixed him
food, and he ate for me.  I held him, talking to him, and decided to put
him on a heating pad for the evening.  I put him in with Pepper, and
looked to see she'd curled around him.  I fixed a cage, got the heating
pad under towels and got a hammock warm for him.  When I went to get him,
Pepper was beside him, and she watched me take him.  I gave him a small
amount of pediapred, just in case the blood sugar was low.  I set the
cage on the floor beside me, and laid there.  Suddenly I heard strange
noises, and found him half out of his hammock.  I picked him up, cuddled
him, talking to him the whole time.  Hunter turned his head and looked at
me, took a breath and was gone.  I was devastated to say the least.  I
kept thinking what did I do wrong, did I not feed him enough, did I not
love him enough, what happened.
 
The next day Larry took him to our vet for a necropsy.  The vet called me
and told me Hunter had a hemangiosarcoma of the liver, a rare sarcoma,
and that it had ruptured, split his liver in two.  Hunter had bled out
into his abdomen.  The vet told me he'd removed 60 cc's of blood from
Hunter's abdomen, and there wasn't one clot in it.  He also told me this
had been working in Hunter for some time, and there was nothing we could
have done.
 
Muldoone, will you please look for Hunter, make sure the Crew met him?
He won't know anyone there, he was a new member of the Crew.  Please tell
him I'm so very sorry that I couldn't save him.  He was such a gentleman.
I'm still in shock that he's gone.
 
 
I don't know who all will be in St. Louis, but I hope to meet some of
you.  Just watch for me, I'll probably be chasing the Wolfy woman around,
trying to keep her in a supply of Depends!  And if you haven't gotten a
Stormy patch, you should, for they are beautiful!  I have the Doodlebug
patch and this one, and I wouldn't even begin to try to choose between
the two.
 
Many of you may remember my post regarding the beautiful Ferret Angel
statue of Chester someone sent to me, made by Karen of the Scruff You
Gang.  I asked her to make one for me honoring all the members of the
Crew of Merry Mayhem that are now at the Bridge.  We discussed colors,
and she gave me ideas, to which I told her go for it.  She also asked for
the names of all the ones at the Bridge, and stories of them.  Shortly
after the first of the year "Rainbow Stardancer" arrived at our home.  I
wish I could describe this statue to you, but it's beyond description.
And enclosed was a poem, with every one of the Crew at the Bridge in it,
and a card with the fireworks they'd set off for us.  It took me over
two times to get through the poem, and I didn't think Larry would get it
done, either.  I don't know how to thank Karen for this, but I want to
tell you, if you've considered one of these statues, it's more than worth
the money, and they are all made with love.  I am remiss in this public
thank you to Karen, but with school and all the kids that have left us,
plus daily life, things just get so far ahead of me I find myself
hurrying to catch up.
 
 
Finally-last week Hope posted about Eowyn being ill, and yes, she's one
of ours.  She's still fighting, but is doing so much better.  She somehow
developed a massive kidney infection that almost claimed her.  She's on
subq fluids every other day now, and is starting to remain hydrated.
She's eating and drinking on her own, her blood work is now down to
normal, as is her creatinine levels.  I'm hoping our warrior princess
keeps getting better.
 
 
Rebecca & the Crew of Merry Mayhem
 
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy, and taste
 good with ketchup"
"Support bacteria, it's the only culture some people have"
[Posted in FML issue 4815]