I don't know where to start.  I am still in shock about this.  The
coughing and weezing sounds Gypsy makes started last April.  At first I
thought she had a cold....but, it wouldn't go away.  I took her to the
vet she was seeing at that time.  He didn't know what it was but thought
that it could be an upper respiratory infection and put her on clavamox.
The first bottle didn't work (when I told him that he acted kinda s&@**y,
but gave her another anyway).  After the second bottle, she was fine for
a long time.  Just recently I had to take her to the vet she is seeing
now bc it started again, only this time it was worse.  They put her on
pediapred to see if that helped.  It seemed to make her weez much less
than she was without it.  But, it didn't completely stop it.  They took
x-rays to see if there was something wrong with her lungs....found
nothing, so she was put back on pediapred.  This time it didn't help that
much.  I took her back and they sedated her to look at her throat bc the
sound was coming from there.  Dr. Hudson took a biopsy from a growth he
had seen in her throat.  Last Tuesday he called me to tell me that it
was bad news.  She has a malignant tumor in her throat (squamous cell
carcinoma) and it is inoperable.  Chemo is not an option either as it
doesn't seem to effect this type of tumor.  I would like to know about
other peoples experience with this.  I have never had to deal with
anything like this before, I am very upset about this!
 
The only person that understands how I feel about Gypsy is my bf.
Everyone else is saying just put her to sleep.  It hasn't reached the
point where I need to make that decision yet....and I know that when it
does it will be the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  Gypsy is sooo
special to me (all of my babies are).  She is the oldest female of the
group.  (five going on six in November) I saw her in a pet store with a
sign that said "ferret $34.99.  I wondered why she was only $34.99, so I
asked the guy working there.  The owners didn't want her anymore bc they
were having a baby, she had never been to the vet bc they said they didn't
know you should take ferrets to the vet, and she had been abused by her
former owners,ect.  I could tell that she was no young lady anymore and
she looked like she had had a hard life.  I had to take her home with me
and spoil her and take care of her.  I left my number for the owners to
call me so that I could find out more about her....the guy from the pet
store called me later that day and told me that they did not want to talk
to me, made me think something wasn't right there.  But anyway, I just
needed to tell someone about this who could understand, and I know this
is the right place to do that.  Thanks a bunch for listening!  I hope
that Gypsy has a lot of time left here with me.  I love her so much!
 
Misty & the wee-weez
(Pixie,Genie,Mr.Grinch,Luna,Rhiannon,Skooter,Gypsy,Thor,Willow,Autumn,
Garcia,& Weeza)
[Posted in FML issue 3817]