Excerpts from mail: 3-Sep-93 Ferret List Issue 568 by Ferret Mailing List@ferr
> Oh, lord, Barbara!  I'm soooo sorry to hear about this!  Keesa was one of
> the very first ferrets I "met" on this list -- way back in March '92, one
> of the first issues I got, you were telling stories about her goosing
> someone at an event you took her too -- I laughed out loud -- in my office
> yet -- I hope she pulls through!  My thoughts are with you and your
> family.  Hang in there, Keesa!!!
 
Thank you very much for your thoughts and hugs. Keesa seems like she'll
be okay. I say this was no small amount of amazement in my voice and a
slight shake of the head. She surprised the vet by showing signs of
being much more conscious *that evening* (you could hear the vet sort of
shaking her head in amazement) and they had me come get her the next
day. Unfortunately, once I got her home she ate or drank nothing the
entire day.
 
By the time I got home from work, she was dehydrated. All she wanted to
do was sleep. (I realized she was dehydrated because when I picked her
up, her skin didn't feel right -- like it was too tight -- and when I
pinched her scruff it *stuck together* and stayed like that! Ick.) So
then we launched on a campaign to force fluid into her. Every 2 hours
during the day we'd force about 4-6ml of water into her, using a dropper
and slowly squeezing it into her cheek (where she couldn't spit it out).
She wasn't too happy with us. :) All she wanted to do was sleep. I got
her to eat some raisens Tue night, but in retrospect, I think it hurts
her to chew.
 
All day Wed and Thu we forcefed her water. She still won't take a drink
out of her bottle or a dish. *sigh* Last night I got her some soft
kitten food and watered it down til it was soup. She ate that quite
happily and this morning (Fri) she's looking quite good. But she won't
eat her regular hard food and I still haven't seen her drinking on her
own. I think if I keep the soft food really soupy she'll get enough
water now that she's not dehydrated anymore. I'm still really worried
about her.
 
She tried very hard to climb out of her cage this morning (which is more
activity than I've seen out of her yet) and *strongly* wanted back in
the cage with Skittles. She was so happy to see Skittles that she
immediately started grooming her. I'm  less concerned with knowing if
she's pooping or not, now that she'll eat the soft food. I'm able to put
the soft stuff in there because Skittles wouldn't touch it with a 10
foot pole. God help me if Skittles ever has a problem ... I'll be force
FEEDING her, as she'll only eat dry ferret food and that's it.
 
I'm going home at lunchtime today to see how she is. If she isn't
looking dehydrated again, I think I can abandon the every 2 hours
watering. My daughter said she'd gone back to the wet food and was
eating more, so that's good.
 
One good thing is she has this large paunch of fat (I'd been trying to
figure out how to put two ferrets on a diet without having one eat all
the food and the other get nothing), so even though the kitten food is
only 11% protein, she can go for a good while yet before she's in danger
of getting too thin. I think I'm going to start mixing her regular food
into the wet stuff (letting it get all mooshy) to get her back on her
regular food. Even if I have to wet it down, it should be better than
the canned kitten food.
 
Of course, I cannot find the article where someone made some kind of
super-food out of nutrical and something else. Does anyone remember? I
tried finding nutrical last night, but my stores didn't have it.
 
This has been very hard ... this is the ferret that poem was about,
she's the one  who steals tampons out of visitor's purses, she grooms
her people and gives kisses, and is basically overflowing with
personality. My husband, my children, and I all feel like we've been
through a wringer. Sheesh.
 
I'm still worried about her. When I reach in to pet her and I touch her,
she *jumps* like I've startled her. I'm worried she's got ear or eye
problems. Maybe she's just a bit jumpy wondering when another weight
will come crashing down on her head! Arg.
 
Thank you for all your concern ... it really does help.
 
--Barb--
 
[Posted in FML issue 0569]