Hi gang... I have a moment here so I will post as promised about some of
the fuzzies... only now they are all sticky, smiling, furry-faced fuzzies
thanks to a generous *gift* from IGI (manufacturers of Nutri-Cal and other
wonderful products).  Boy do we have Nutri-Cal...thanks again Roxanne...
 
Before I go too far, I must announce that Emily has a new sponsor! ! !
Three cheers for Katie Walker ! ! ! and best of all, Katie insists that I
keep Emily as a permanent shelter resident <oh boy, oh boy, oh boy> I was
having a hard time justifying it, now I can.  You probably remember Emily
from my last post, she is Rikki's "sister".  Katie and I are concerned that
Emily has bonded so much with me that it would be very hard for her to
adjust to a new home, 'again'.  Well, Katie has just made little Emily the
happiest ferret in the world today (we had a little 'ferret party' in
celebration, Nutri-Cal and raisins for all).  We are very sad that Emily
will probably lose Rikki in the near future, but I believe she will be
alright if she can stay here with me and with her new friends, Cocoa Puff
and Duchess.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Katie.
 
Cocoa Puff, a dark sable female, arrived here in awful shape with her
"sister" Duchess, a silver mitt female, after living in a barn in the HOT
summertime (we are in Texas, you know).  They were also suffering from heat
exhaustion when they arrived because the guy had just thrown them in the
back of his pickup truck and drove them here in the middle of July in the
afternoon sun.  Gad, the stupidity of some people, not only that, but I had
to *pay* him $50.00 for them...believe me I gave him his money and took
those girls away from him FAST!!  That was over a year ago and these girls
have come a long way in that time.
 
They both had the strangest feet I had ever seen.  They had cone-shaped
calluses on each individual foot and toe pad.  Their skin and hair and nails
on their feet were encrusted with 'poop'.  They both walked with their tails
curled over their back, not touching the ground at all, and they walked on
their tiptoes.  I finally decided they had learned to walk this way because
they must have been walking in absolute "filth", and the calluses came from
walking on a rough surface or wire, I am not sure.  It took many months to
get them looking somewhat normal, but I finally did it.
 
Cocoa had sores on her body and eventually was found to have skin mites,
which we treated and she got over quickly, but who knows how long she had
suffered with them.  Then I discovered she was blind.  This did not seem to
be a handicap at all for her, and she is getting around fine, as a matter of
fact, she knows when I walk into a room before anyone else does, even if I
don't make a sound.  She is very sharp.  Her teeth look pretty bad, the
enamel is pretty much gone from most of them.....who knows what they had
been eating in that barn, if they ate at all.  Not to worry, she eats like a
horse and almost always has her head in the food bowl.  They were thin and
their coats were dry, thin, and brittle.
 
In December she showed signs of an adrenal tumor so off to the vet we went.
An ultrasound showed a tumor and the vet operated.  He found an extremely
large tumor and it turned out to be cancerous.  The vet, Dr. Kendrick,
believed he had gotten it all but you can never be sure.  Lately she began
showing signs of thinning hair and losing a little weight, I feared the
worst.  Duchess had also lost weight and hair on her tail and felt down last
weekend so I took them both in today for a check up.  He checked them over
very well and felt no abnormalities and says we are probably out of the
woods with Cocoa now.  Huray!  Huray!  He thinks the changes are probably
just seasonal hairloss and that Duchess may have had a little bug and it is
gone now.  <oh boy, does this mean we can have another ferret party.>
 
Update on Oscar and Compton.  I picked up the boys today at Erika's and took
them in with Cocoa and Duchess to see Dr.  Kendrick.  He examined both of
them thoroughly and decided that severe ear mites are the biggest problem
for Compton right now and once they are under control, that his hair on his
tail will probably come back.  He goes home for more of Erika's TLC.  (I
suspect these boys will have their own room, complete with stereo and TV
very soon.)
 
Oscar had to stay with Dr.  Kendrick, he definitely felt a mass and surgery
is in Oscar's near future.  He has a bad case of ear mites also, but that is
the lesser of his problems right now, though they are being treated also.
Oscar will have an ultrasound a.s.a.p.  and then they will schedule surgery.
By the way, Erika insisted on taking care of the vet bills for these two
boys today, boy, is she ever a lifesaver, thanks again Erika.
 
Well, it is 1:00 am here, hope this goes out today.  I have to get some
sleep.  Will try to post more fuzzies tomorrow.
 
[BIG thanks for fixing the post I sent that was in yesterday's FML.  It had
bounced 6 times and I was very frustrated.  You are just great!]
[Posted in FML issue 1538]