L, NO ONE knows long-distance when it is time to get a mercy shot for a
ferret for whom the vets and family are able to provide quality life.
Over the years we went through that garbage ourselves with two people
who decided to badger us badly with different ferrets, and one who was
less-so.  ONLY those close to the animal and know the individual know
when it is time to seek a mercy shot.  In the most recent situation where
we were getting those mails I'd read one of those things from someone who
figured that she knew what what going on and it would be such an echo in
content of early mails from a man who used to tell us that in relation
to another happy ferret.  Why?  Because I'd read those "You are being
selfish" mails and then I would look at the ferret who was the subject of
them and she'd be happily playing and having grand old time.
 
Honestly, with this most sensitive of all topics, it's a time for folks
to know when to be mum about some aspects for someone else's ferret whom
we do NOT know and whose situation we do NOT know.  We can tell about
what changes led each of us to choose mercy shots and when, but to tell
another to give one is over the line in my way of thinking.
 
Frankly, if a ferret show interest in life we give that ferret a chance.
Mother Jones once wrote:
"Pray for the dead but fight like hell for the living." and that is the
way many folks do things.
 
There were a LOT of very interesting viewpoints on this in some
discussions I guess about 3 months or so ago, and the topic has
periodically come up.  It would pay to read those past discussions first.
Just go to the FML address given earlier in this post and in the header
of every day's FML.
 
Also, there have been some past successes for ferrets with pacemakers.
Pacemakers do not cause insulinoma.  Insulinoma does not cause body fur
loss (but adrenal disease does, and shaving does, and some ferrets --
this is rare -- lose body fur from any great stressors).  There are a
number of non-sequetors in the post.  I would also suggest that as well
as reading up on heart disease, insulinoma, and adrenal neoplasia that
you read up on blindness, Vision is NOT the primary not even the
secondary sense for ferrets, and most who are blind cope so well that
the people take quite some time to even realize that the ferret is blind.
There are also ways to do scent mapping for ferrets which you will find
when you learn about blindness in ferrets.  (Okay, I'm annoyed, but
telling another when to get a mercy shot is one of my hot buttons because
of the absolutely cold and callus foolishness I've personally encountered
with outsiders making such statements.  Those posts often are about the
most needlessly that hurtful a person can get.)
 
There are SO MANY hurtles that are surmountable.  It always amazes me
that folks don't realize that there simply ARE at times approaches they
themselves haven't yet heard of, or when folks assume that certain meds
are bad (pain meds for instance which do NOT make an animal groggy when
used right) when really if the meds are used right the result is real
and wonderful quality of life.
 
BTW, we have a type of warming pad which is heated in the microwave which
we have found wonderful for ferrets and there are instructions for rice
bags and hot water bottles in both the FML and FHL Archives (addies
earlier in post).
 
Sounds you might mean AV Heart Node Block.  Seven had that as a result
(not cause) of her insulinoma, which seems to be the common way for
ferrets to get it.  We looked into pacemakers but there were reasons
which made her not a candidate.  Info on AV Heart Node Block can be
found at the archives mentioned and at
http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/ferrethealth/heartblock.txt
[Posted in FML issue 4391]