Chiclet had very bad breathing problems last night which 6 mg of Lasix
reduced but did not stop.  Then soon after her breathing got bad again
and then worse and when I was calling to see about a mercy shot she lost
consciousness and then had seizures so we decided to let her pass at
home, but she regained consciousness for a while, then again lost it and
had more seizures.  When she next regained consciousness see could not
see, had no mobility or sensory from the chest down, was unable to
urinate, had no muscle tone below her chest, and then she got worse
from there.  Joe came here and gave her her final shots -- one lose
consciousness yet one more time and then a heart stick.
 
Early yesterday she had improved some and even played a little -- with a
light weight ping pong ball that rattles (Yvonne and Anne will remember
it as the ball Sherman had at the shelter after his rescue.), with a
fleece bell ball sewn to a string and hung so that it was easy to move,
and with a little bit of crinkly plastic.
 
In the evening and afterward, though, she began refusing food from us
for the first time in this 6 and 1/2 week battle she put up against this
disease.  She also was making a point of doing extra lovey things to us.
I must have had 6 ear snuffles and one ear grooming between the evening
and about 2, and she insisted on seeing Steve sleeping.  She became upset
if I'd let go of her so I held her till her breathing was bit easier and
she didn't need to be so vertical, I guess around 4:30 to 5 a.m., then
Steve got up and we set her up next to me in bed and she and I rested and
dozed on and off with Steve watching over us.  By 7:30 we knew that she
had no chance and called Joe who came over to our house and confirmed
that.
 
Oh, something I forgot to tell Joe so I just called him.  Starting
yesterday she began bleeding most every time she had a sub-cu; that had
never happened before.  I know that she began showing some blood in her
urine just -- gosh, I guess on Friday, and the aspirate from the site
where this had first started was bloody just as seen with others.
 
As much of her body as is needed, even all of her, is going to the
testing to try to find the answer for this.  There are some kits in PA
who have died of this (None who survived.) and Chiclet is the only one
we know of in NJ.  Because the ferrets showed different nodes up as the
first signs, and because I have not heard of any households where anyone
else of any species has come down ill my suspicions are that it might be
something carried by an insect or by an arachnid relative, but that is
just a suspicion, of course.  Hopefully, and answer will be found to
prevent more deaths, but pathology from multiple pathologists who know
ferrets so far has not found the answer, just the ravages the disease
has wrought.
 
We're shaken.  We always knew this could happen.  After all, she has
been touch and go so many times during this, and she is the only one to
survive for so long with these symptoms.  Still, she was maybe the best
fighter for survival we've ever had.  Joe did such an incredible job
giving her a chance; he timing everything right for her to go this long
when no other ferrets with the symptoms did.  This little girl wanted so
much to live.  I'm writing one note with variations according to rules
for places with special rules.  Just not up to writing more than one.
[Posted in FML issue 4208]