Hi all.  I recently posted an article on the death of my Ripley due to
unknown illness that took his life.  I have another ferret, Nova, who has
had a tumor growing on his left from shoulder for the last few months.
It started out the size of a gold ball and the vet took 2 X-Rays and
determined that because if the location and the fact that it is wrapped
around his shoulder, she might have to take that leg off.  He is 6 years
old which makes him not a great candidate for surgery.  Then there is the
fact that when you mess with malignant tumors you anger them and they tend
to spread.  Her advice was to let him be until he showed signs of pain.
Then I would have to make a decision.  Well it has now reached the size of
a baseball so it looks as though I have very limited time with him.  Now
here is the unexpected that cruelly slapped me in the face this morning.
 
My ferret Rusty has never been to a vet for illness.  He has had regular
exams and all was fine.  This morning when I checked on the little guys
in their room he was laying in his food bowl looking rather bad.  His
hind legs were spread out.  I went into the room and picked him up and he
literally fell into my arms.  He was not dehydrated but his hind legs did
not seem to be functioning properly and he was so lethargic.  I took him
and put him in the hospital cage in my bedroom and panicked because I had
exactly 30 minutes to get to work and the vet is a 45 minute drive.  I
called her and she told me that she was ruling out Myeloma <which took
Count Ibili's life in May.  I had some extra Baytril left from my other
ferret that was on it and she told me to administer that, give him
Pedilyte <sp> and give him some Ferret Lax.  He did try to vomit a few
times.  I get off work at 5:00pm tonight and if he is still alive I am
taking him to see the vet tomorrow morning.  I have to be at work at
11:30am and she normally does not come in on Saturdays but she told me to
call her at 7:30am and get him over to her.  My God, what is going on?
This may be nothing serious but I have been through 4 ferret deaths; 2 in
April and 2 in May and then there is Nova's pending death.  Right around
Christmas too.  Please say a prayer for my Rusty.  He's about 4 years old,
big as can be and a real lovey dovey fert.  I just can't bear any more
tragedies.
 
Diane
[Posted in FML issue 3625]