I felt compelled to write a little story about my boy Coco, who I made
the decision to help cross the bridge today, with the help and advice
of some caring ferret people I have been lucky to "meet" along the way.

Although a life-long animal lover, I never had experience with ferrets
before Dec 2010. My ex-bf who I was still friends with had decided he
wanted to rescue 4 ferrets from Craigslist, all approx 4 years old,
even though I tried to talk him out it. 3 were in one home (2 girls,
1 boy) and another boy was in another home, alone (that was Coco -
formerly 'Spike'). I almost said no to going to get Coco because it was
late that eve and it was a farther drive, but my ex insisted. The first
lady was rehoming hers because she had cancer (and unfortunately that
nice lady recently passed away). When we got to Coco's home we were in
shock at his poor living conditions. He was in a 1 level guinea pig
cage caked inches high with feces, rotten food, and crawling with
roaches. He was standing in the middle of it all, looking afraid to
move. It turned out he was infested with fleas as well. We were
absolutely appalled, although we didn't say anything because we didn't
want them to get angry and not let us take him. The father said Coco's
brother recently passed away (no surprise) and that his kid just wasn't
interested in taking care of him anymore. He wanted $25 for him, which
we paid, and what blows my mind is that the father asked us to
"promise" to take good care of him. Oh the irony.

Coco assimilated with the other ferrets easily and even bonded with one
of the girls (Clementine), who he cuddled with all the time. Not too
long after getting the ferrets, maybe a month, my ex could not "handle"
the responsibilities of taking care of them, did not have the room for
them to roam, and his roommate had a dog with fleas which he would not
fix and they were getting on the ferrets, so he surrendered them to me,
even though I already lived with a dog and 5 cats and was not ready to
take on more pets.

The other boy (Casanova), unfortunately had undiagnosed adrenal disease
and was completely blind (it took us a while to figure out actually).
He had not lost his fur, he was just "amorous", and us not knowing much
about ferrets did not know he had it. One day in March 2011, he became
blocked and could not urinate and it was too late, we had to say
goodbye. Luckily, a ferret-treating vet was only 10 minutes from my
house.

Coco was diagnosed with insulinoma in April 2011 after becoming more
and more lethargic. By this time, I had been doing a lot of reading
about ferrets and their diseases and was getting up to speed on signs
and symptoms. We had some ups and downs with the insulinoma, and there
were many times I had to nurse him back from the brink with duck soup
because he stopped eating. He rallied so many times I can't count. He
was on pred until December, but then developed ulcer symptoms and we
stopped the pred. I never put him back on the pred because he developed
a healthy and frequent appetite and maintained his blood sugar pretty
well. What ultimately led to the decision today was the dreaded
lymphoma. I cannot recall now what month the vet diagnosed him with it.
I am going to have to take a guess and say it's been at least 6 months
we've known he's had it. The last few months, he has not really had
much of a quality of life a ferret should have. His life consisted
of eating, drinking, sleeping, and going potty. He had gotten rail
thin (630gm down from 1.1kg at highest) despite eating constantly, he
stumbled when he walked with his back toes curled under, he couldn't
use the litter boxes anymore so I setup the cage so his food/water were
right next to his bed and he only had to go down one small ramp to
get to a potty pad. It worked out well. So about 3 weeks ago, I had
considered it to be "time" because he developed dark, tarry stools with
some frank blood. A course of carafate and amoxicillin cleared it up
and bought him these last 3 weeks with me. Early this Weds morning I
awoke to diarrhea all over my bedroom floor (I had left them out
overnight). I saw him straining and he wasn't getting much out...it was
mainly liquid brown and/or mucous. I put him in the cage on the potty
pad and he kept straining and cried/moaned for about a minute. He was
obviously in pain, which really distressed me. I gave him pain meds and
he quieted down and seemed back to normal the rest of Weds, however, I
was lingering with doubts about whether this meant it was time or not
and I made the final appointment Weds afternoon. I ended up canceling
due to my own mental state and feeling like I was jumping the gun. So
Weds eve I consulted with a very knowledgeable lady on the phone (that
you all probably know here), and she explained to me what he was
probably going thru with the lymphoma, how it was most likely attacking
his intestines causing irritable bowel, how he could easily end up
sepsis and unable to go due to blockage and that he could have another
painful episode. Plus his quality of life was poor as it was. I
confirmed her opinion with a couple other ferret people that it was
"time" as well and rescheduled his appointment for 4:30pm today
(Thurs). But, he still had the "spirit" in his eyes though, even up til
today, when he got the initial sedative. So, me, Coco, and the 2 girls
went to the vets to say goodbye for the last time. The initial shot of
muscle relaxer/sedative they give him before they put in the catheter
was supposed to give him about 10 minutes of "alert" time with me, but
unfortunately, the second they gave it to him he was completely zonked
out. Luckily, before that I had given him a bite of his favorite but
rare treat, 3 Musketeers nougat, however, after the shot, even that
under his nose couldn't wake him. I spent some time holding him and
talking to him and telling how much I loved him, and letting the girls
see him (although they were exploring the room quite a bit). I took
photos and video through the whole process. After we said our goodbyes,
she gave him the final injection and he was gone. No sigh, no struggle,
just off to sleep. It couldn't have been anymore peaceful for him. I
had him wrapped in his favorite little sack, which was barely big
enough for 2 ferrets, but after he passed I laid him on the floor and
let the girls see him. Immediately, Callie stuffed herself into the
sack and got behind Coco and stayed there, then Clementine, his
"girlfriend", came over, sniffed his mouth, gave a little lick, then
got into the sack the best she could too and laid her head on his neck.
The vet saw this and said she thinks she knew he passed. They gave me
some time alone and I let them cuddle with him for about 15 minutes
before heading home. I wish I could've let them stay longer but I was
emotionally exhausted and it was the end of the day for them and there
were other people waiting to be seen. I was just amazed at seeing how
they went right to him, almost in a protective way. It was very, very
sweet.

So, it's been a long, hard, sad day. I miss that little guy. He was
such a sweet, mild ferret. Never nipped, so gentle and quiet. He had a
great spirit and kept fighting to live despite the cancer. I'm so glad
I was able to rescue him from that filthy, miserable home he wasted 4
years of his life in. At least he got to live the "good life" for a
brief while with me and the others. He will be greatly missed.

~Holly and Clementine and Callie
(Coco and Casanova at the Bridge)

[Posted in FML 7437]