Dear Friends,
 
Eric and I are very sad to have to tell you all that we had to put
Marshmallow to sleep on Monday.  He fought very gallantly and he had a
wonderful few days before his little body just gave out.  He had started
getting finicky about eating last Tuesday.  We figured an increase in his
prednisone dose would help to stimulate his appetite (he had been on pred
since last February when he started showing signs of insulinoma).  On
Thursday he refused to eat and couldn't keep down his dose of prednisone.
Our vet (Dr. Ned Horowitz) gave him some injectable prednisone and SC
fluids.  The fluids helped him a lot.  But Dr. Ned felt a thickening in his
abdomen -- and for a ferret who had hardly eaten for a few days, Marsh's
belly was big and round.  We continued to force-feed him and give him SC
fluids (Dr. Ned showed me how to do it).  We wanted the increased dose of
prednisone to have time to work.  Marsh was feeling much better by Friday
evening -- he began eating on his own.  Saturday and Sunday, he was better
still.  He ate on his own and was even out wandering around with the other
ferrets and crawling through the tubes.  We were very hopeful that he would
rally for a while longer.  But Monday morning I went to check on him and he
had lost mobility in his back end.  We gave him some fluids, which made him
feel a little better, but he was just lying there, sighing every once in a
while.  Neigher Ferretone nor raisins interested him (he was always an
"I'll do anything for a raisin or some Ferretone!" ferret).  Then he
started to have almost black diarrhea and he couldn't control it.  Eric and
I took turns holding him as we got ready to take him to Dr. Ned.  We knew
there was nothing more we could do for him but help him into the next
world.  We're very glad that he had a good couple of days before he left
us.  Now he and Ralph can play the way they did when they were both young.
We miss him very much, but we know that we could do nothing more for him
here.
 
When we brought him home as a kit, we had no inkling that he would get to
travel up and down the East coast as a spokesferret, meeting people at
ferret and pet shows.  He did a wonderful job.  He was a gentle and sweet
ferret.  Marshmallow was very fortunate to have been able to help teach so
many people about ferrets.  I know he was happy to have had the opportunity
to do some good in this world.
 
--Mary & Eric
& the Modern Ferrets -- Sabrina, Knuks, Trixie, Bosco da Gama, Balthazar,
Cauliflower, Koosh, and Gabrielle
[Posted in FML issue 3012]