I'm banging my head against a wall here. I don't know what to do with
Slinky.
A few months ago he got very sick. Not eating, walking funny, diarrhea,
lost lots of weight. He spent two nights in the animal hospital, got
rehydrated, got some meds and started to get better. He started eating
on his own, drinking lots of Gatorade, and put weight back on.
It's about 2 months later. He's decided to stop eating ferret food
(Totally Ferret) completely. He won't drink the Gatorade anymore. The
only thing I can get him to eat is Gerber's baby food. If I mix in
pedialyte or Nutrical, he refuses it. He's lost weight again.
But the worst part of it is his behavior. He is an absolute nightmare!
I can't hold him, he spazzes out and tried to leap to the floor. He's
actually succeeded a couple of times and plopped to the floor from my arms.
Or from the kitchen counter top. This weekend he bit the elbow of my
fiance's 8-yr-old nephew and left deep, red marks (thankfully it didn't
break the skin, but it was damn close). Slinky has NEVER bitten like that
since he was a kit.
I tried to do Slinky's toenails last night and put ferretvite on his
tummy like I have for all my ferrets from the beginning. He licked
once or twice, freaked out, spun around in my lap (covering us both with
ferretvite), and tried to leap across the room. I had to give him a bath,
and the running water over his head finally actually calmed him down.
I am so upset by this. I don't know what to do with him. He just turned
6 in March. I don't know if I should try to let him go on continuing with
the Gerber's until he won't eat that anymore, try more treatment (which the
doc said was pretty much futile, as Slink's kidneys are going bad), or do
the "humane" thing and put him out of his misery.
Slinky used to be such a wonderful, loving, playful ferret. He was always
ready to give a kiss or do a war dance for you. He's a totally different
ferret.
Thanks for listening to me rant. <sob>
=====
Aileen & the Herd
The Ferrets: Slinky, Kyle, Noel, & Toby
The Dogs: Rootie the beagle & Tank the GSD/basset
Still missing Sandy & Gizmo. We love you.
Check out the Herd's website at: http://www.geocities.com/anippy
[Posted in FML issue 3447]
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