Hello All:
 
Okay, things with Mica have been touch and go for the past couple of days,
but they're looking up.  Thursday morning we took her to the vet...she was
dehydrated, lethargic, and showing all the signs of an impending "sugar
crash".  She hasn't been eating well at all because of the lump in her
throat, and though we had started her on Prednisone on Wednesday--and it was
*definitely* working!--she still wasn't feeling up to eating on her own.
 
Friday morning things weren't looking great, even after 4 feedings (12
ccs each) since Thursday morning, several shots of ringer's lactate and
dextrose, and lots of attention.  Mica was basically imitating a limp
dishrag, and there's some evidence that she's lost vision in one eye
(probably as a result of low blood sugar).  Colleen called me from the
vet's at noon to come back into town so we could put Mica to sleep
together...
 
 ...but when I got there she was a changed weasel!  She was up and
energetic, and made it very clear that SHE WANTED TO GO HOME NOW PLEASE.
She's still thin, but there's more meat on her bones than there was on
Wednesday...and the swelling in her throat is WAY down.  We decided that
this weasel wasn't ready to die just yet after all, and so she's spending
the night at the vet's again.  She'll continue to be force-fed if ncessary
and get additional shots of dextrose and ringer's lactate, and we'll
reassess tomorrow (Saturday).
 
So, things are looking up.  Her vision in the one eye may come back, but
even if it doesn't she'll get along fairly well (we had another ferret who
was blind and you'd never have known it.).  The next real test is to see if
she'll eat on her own--if she does, and that lump continues to decrease, I
think she just may pull through.  She'd *better*...she's easily become our
most expensive ferret, and she's *not* dying on my watch!  <grin>
 
Steven Woodcock
From Wyrdhaven, in the High Mountains of Colorado
http://www.gameai.com
[Posted in FML issue 2888]