I have posted here once or twice asking for advice about my Gustifer and
got some really good information.  I am very grateful for all the knowledge
the ferret collective has given me.  I am asking for your help once more
for mine as well as Gus' sake.
 
Gustifer is 4 1/2 years old.  The first two years was spent with a
wonderful family who played with him and took good care of him.  Then the
family went abroad for a year.  When they came back, they found a starved
emaciated poor ferret who was almost dead.  The people they had left him
with hadn't taken care of him at all.
 
His primary caretakers were good-natured well-meaning if somewhat ferret
ignorant owners.  They managed to nurse him back to health.  The ferret
mostly belonged to the young girl; by this time she was growing up and no
longer interested in the ferret.  So, the last year or two of his life was
incredibly emotionally neglected.  Fed and watered and that was it.  I
become aware of his situation and offered to take the ferret off of their
hands.  They agreed.  Originally, I was going to bring him to a shelter,
but I fell in love with his little face and partial blaze.  so, before he
even got to the shelter, I sent the money and adopted him right out!  We
went to the vet.  He had scabs on his belly and my vet (Dr. Finkler - A
GREAT ferret vet) told me that it was secondary bacterial infections due
to lying in his own feces.  He said they would clear up, and they did.
Meanwhile, gus is profoundly scared of my other ferret, Hershey.  He
screams and hisses and snaps any time Hersh comes around.  Well, he
developed diarrhea.  I didn't think much of it and thought it would clear
up and it was due to stress.  Well, it never did.  After 2 months, a week
taken off from work and approximately $1,000 later, we discovererd what was
wrong (Thanks Dr. Williams!).
 
Gus' villi in his intestinal track are fused together and blunted.  His
lymphatic tubes that transport fats and proteins to the bloodstream are
clogged.  Therefore, no matter what I feed him, or how much, he is starving
to death.  No cause has been discovered and the only treatment option is
prednisone, and he doesn't respond.
 
I even wanted a steroid shot just in case he wasn't able to absorb the
pred, still didn't work.
 
He is down to 1.8 from 2.5 (had been down to 1.6) and we have recently put
in a feeding tube in the hopes of giving him more meds and food he will no
longer eat.
 
We are pretty much out of ideas and Gus is running out of time.  I have
tried everything.  At one point, he was on 11 different things at one time
in an effort to control the diarrhea (which was water with white bits in
it) and nothing worked, not even close.
 
So, *please*, everyone out there, keep Gus in your hearts for the next few
days.  His life hasn't been a fair one, and his potential death will be
even less just.  To say he deserves more than his given lot in life is an
understatement if I ever heard one.  Gus needs a miracle and,
unfortunately, I just don't fit the bill of being able to give him one.
 
Paige
[Posted in FML issue 2726]