Well this has been the day I have been dreading with all my heart.  Our
gorgeous, kissy, happy little BEW, Scully, left us to join the others at the
Rainbow Bridge just a few minutes ago at about 11:45pm.
 
She was absolutely fine earlier in the evening, we had played a game in the
corridor, she chasing me and tearing up my track pants to plant big,
slopping kisses on my ear and cheeks.  Rushing onto the bed she gave Philip
a grooming - first the left side of his cheek and then pushed his face over
to continue onto his right side.  Everything was absolutely fine when Philip
had to go out to a meeting just before 8pm.
 
I was lying on the bed reading as I was waiting to collect the kids from
their Army Cadets meeting (I guess like your ROTC) and about 9pm had reason
to go into the laundry to put something in the freezer.  I freaked out as on
the floor was a huge pile of what looked like blood stains but, since the
colour was pinkish, I thought maybe something the kids had concocted had
fallen off the washing machine or whatever.  I checked the consistency and
it seemed slimy so right away I rushed around the house looking for the
ferrets.  Found Scully lying on the floor in our walk-in cupboard with
flecks of blood all over the face, nose bleeding and blood oozing from her
mouth.
 
Hysterically I dialled the vet and rushed down there.  The vet asked if I
had any Ratsak poison around the house.  I said definitely not, however I
had put down those cockroach baits (in sealed plastic containers) but was
told if Scully had chewed one through, she would have been in convulsions,
not haemorraging.
 
They put her in an incubator and gave her  vitamin K  to try and slow down
the bleeding.  It seemed that if she could hold off throwing up any more
blood then there was a good chance she would stabilise and pull through.
The vet also thought they might need to give Scully a transfusion and asked
if we had a big ferret.  I raced home and brought Chucky down. At this stage
Philip had come home, found lights and TV on - didn't know where I was but
saw the phone book and bloodstained towel by the phone so realised one of
our animals was in trouble.  He was driving to the vet, saw me returning
home (to get Chucky) so did a swift U-turn and was on his way into the house
as I came roaring out.
 
Terrible isn't it - you hold all your emotions in so tightly, then once
there's someone you love in front of you everything crumbles and the sobbing
starts big way.
 
To cut a long story short - I stayed at the vet's until Philip drove to
collect the kids and bring them back there.  The vet was very good, calling
a couple of vets who knew more about ferrets to ensure that what she was
doing was correct.  By about 11pm she said Scully, although still stressed
and in shock, hadn't vomited up any more blood and so the longer she stayed
stablised, the better her chances were to get through this.  I didn't dare
go and see Scully when we were leaving, because I was terrified that if I
said goodbye to her, it might mean a permanent goodbye - you know what I mean?
 
We got home 5 minutes later and Philip managed to get hold of Dr Bruce
Williams to speak to him and see if there were any other things he could
suggest our vet should do.
 
Thank you, Dr Williams, for your very kind help and advice and for taking
time to speak to Philip.  It seems he thought it was Ratsak too so Philip
relayed the points to our vet here.  Fingers crossed, I hoped things would
stabilise and the little sweetheart would be able to pull through.
 
No such luck.  The phone rang at about midnight to say she had another
massive haemorrage and had passed away!!  Needless to say the whole family
was a mess and now I am consumed with guilt that I didn't have the guts to
hold her one last time and tell her we all love her and not to worry.
 
Anyway, we are now veterans of the Rainbow Bridge and only earlier today I
sent a note of sympathy to one FML'er who had lost his ferret and remarked
that, although I weep everytime I read of one of you people losing your
ferrets, we had been very fortunate that it hadn't happened to us *yet* and,
naturally,  I was not looking forward to when it would be our turn to
experience the pain.  Silly me.
 
We don' t have Ratsak anywhere near the house but Philip took Scully and
Chucky down to the Ferret Centre yesterday and I know that the guy in the
next shop puts it down.  I can only assume a sick mouse staggered into our
store and somehow got into the ferrets' cage.  Scully must have eaten some
or all of it and died because of it - there is no other explanation.
 
But what really baffles me is that there was no evidence lying around and so
we didn't even know.  I have this BURNING desire to go next door to grab the
man around the throat and throttle him - we have often suggested to him that
he should use a "friendly" mouse trap like we do.  The little creatures go
into the trap and then our kids take them a few blocks away and release them
into the bush, but no, he wants to kill them in the most horrible way
possible.
 
I don't think we'll ever be able to replace Scully - she was such a gorgeous
live-wire (looked just like the sweetie for August in the Ferret Calendar!),
plus I think she was 2 weeks pregnant.  Makes me want to scream with anger.
 
Anyway - thanks for sharing and I hope none of you ever have to go through
what we did.  The suddenness of it all was just so incredible - absolutely
no warning so please be aware and make sure your babies aren't anywhere near
Ratsak infected mice.
 
Again, my most heartfelt thanks to Dr WIlliams for his kindness in taking
the time to talk to Philip and you guys for letting me pour our my pain.
 
Nona
The Ferret Centre
[Posted in FML issue 1691]