I can empathize with you.  I have a very hard time handling graphic
descriptions of sick and dying ferrets.  I try to skip over these but now
and then I read one by accident and my day is ruined.  I had a family
dinner celebration over the weekend, and I could hardly choke down my food
because the disturbing images of a post I accidently read kept making their
way into my head.  Whenever I read such a story, I get very upset and
cannot stop thinking that the same thing is going to happen to my own
ferret.
 
But I will offer you this--I first found out about ferret illnesses the
hard way, when my then 2 1/2 year old came down with a strange intestinal
disease and nearly died.  The vet (in an attempt to educate me, I am sure)
gave me all sorts of literature about all the diseases ferrets get, told
me about their tumors and skin diseases and early deaths, etc.  I was
distraught.  I was convinced she was going to croak any day, and I scoured
her for any signs of illness.
 
Well, that was 5 years ago and she is still going strong.  Aside from
one bladder infection, a couple ulcers, and mild adrenal disease, she is
still puttering along.  I took her to the vet last week, thinking she had
insulinoma, and all of her tests came back normal--liver, kidneys, glucose,
everything.  Her white blood cells are a bit elevated, so she is on
antibiotics for a suspected infection of some sort.  It could be something
bad, but then again it could not.  At any rate, she is happy and alert.
Her appetite is great, her teeth are in excellent shape, she is fluffy and
bright eyed, and does not seem like a ferret on the verge of keeling over.
She will be 7 1/2 next month.  She loves to play in bags, run through her
tube, and sleeps curled up with me at night in my bed.  I'm no vet, but she
seems ok to me.  This may change, but for now she's enjoying life and I'm
enjoying her.  I have a friend I met from the FAIML whose ferret is 9.
 
Here is what I have learned from this--I try to keep in the back of my head
that ferrets are illness prone, but I take her as the individual ferret
that she is.  Why dig her grave before I need to?  I steer away of stories
about ill and dying ferrets, not because I do not care, but because I
cannot help but see my ferret in them and I want to be able to enjoy every
moment of my time with her.  She's not dying or decrepid right now, so why
try and tell myself that she is.
 
I know that when her time comes to cross the Bridge, no one will be more
 sympathetic than the
people on this list.
 
--Ann
[Posted in FML issue 2968]