I guess that this is just going to be my year.  Pepper developed another
urinary blockage on Monday the so off to the after hours vet clinic.  She
got him temporarily unblocked and he went into Aurora Animal Clinic
Tuesday.  The UA had loads of crystals again so they went in to clean him
out and flush him.  They also took out a very large and misshapen spleen.
All was going well until they went to bring him out.  His heart stopped and
they could not revive him.  I think that I already cover this once in the
FML.  The shock came next.  About 4 years ago I came across 2 ferrets that
an old client of mine had.  She wanted to get rid of them so I went to take
a look at them.  They were living in a cage in the closet of a basement.
The only light in the room was burned out.  The one that I named Rosie was
horribly malnourished and could hardly stand up.  Her cagemate Buddy was
also very thin and his claws had grown so long that they wrapped around the
filthy bedding in the cage.  There was no food or water and the crap was
piled all over the cage.  I normally do not pay for ferrets that I rescue
but I gave her 50.00 for them and brought them home.  I did not expect
Rosie to make it through the night and the vet came over the next morning.
She did make it through the night and after years of gentle tolerance, love
and safety, she only bites me about once a month.  She will bite anybody
else though if they are not careful and Buddy was still very afraid of
Vacuum Cleaners.  Buddy became my gentle giant and the only ferret Rosie
would share her cage with.  About 6 weeks ago I noticed a lump on the back
of Buddy's leg.  I knew that I should have it looked at right away but with
all the others that I lost this year I was afraid to find out what it was.
Then so many of my others required emergency care that I just kept putting
in off.  What then happened was my fault entirely and hopefully someone
will learn from my mistake.  On Friday morning I called to make his appt
for Sat morning.  When I let him out of his cage I noticed that the lump
had developed a white pimply thing on the end.  I steralized a needle and
lanced it.  It was like a volcanoe but it just kept draining until this
reddish brown putrid smelling gunk came out.  Off to the vet we went right
away.  They sedated him and cleaned him out and flushed him over and over.
They had a problem getting the bleeding to stop but they did and they felt
that even though he was very slow coming out of the anesthesia, he would
probably do better at home.  So they sent him home with me.  He started a
seizure about 10:30 pm so I fed him and gave him some dextrose.  That got
it under control and I fed him several more times.  At 4:17am he stopped
breathing.  He died as Molly and so many others have, in my arms.  The
necropsy showed that the abcess had spread and toxins had entered his liver
which was slightly spotted.  If I had had him treated 6 weeks ago, he would
be alive to spend the rest of his life with his best friend and Rosie would
not be without her friend.  I am ashamed to admit the his death was largly
my fault.  Considering where he came from, he deserved better, especially
from someone who has had the audacity to call her self a rescue and
shelter.  I let him down when he needed me the most.  Please, if I have
learned one thing it is to sweat the small stuff where the health of thjose
placed in my care are concerned.  I am only ashamed that it took the death
of my gentle giant to make me see.  What an expensive price to pay.  I am
sorry
[Posted in FML issue 3046]