Hello FML - have been gone from these pages for a while, because the pages
have been gone from me. Once in a while, by some miracle, I do scoop it
in. Can't say I like the new format. However, friends have been keeping
me up from time to time.
[Moderator's note: In case it's not obvious by now, AOL has mad a lot of
people unhappy with undelivered mail and repackaging mail into files. I
hope people who are unhappy with this will let them know. BIG]
I did see the post from Cindy Sooy - and Cindy, I am so sorry for your loss
of Cocoa and your other losses. I know exactly how you feel. With the
loss of three of my ferrets in close order, plus loss of two litters this
year, well..... Please accept my heartfelt sympathy. You fought a good
battle for Cocoa. You are a good ferret care person. Sometimes, no matter
what we do, we just cannot save our babies. Grieve, because you must - but
your babies will never be gone from you completely. As long as you live
they will be a part of you in your heart.
This has been a bad year for so many of us. So many loses of dear ferrets.
So many loses of breeding jills and so many losses of litters. Breeding is
not an easy or fun job. I strongly recommend against it. I have lost two
litters this year. One, slightly premature and with a large stillborn
breech kit, all the kits were lost within 72 hours. No one to foster too.
Five of us lost litters that weekend. The next litter were all stillborn,
with one deformity. Three of us lost litters that weekend with deformities.
Several of my friends have recenly lost jills, and several more had very
close calls on near loss of their jills.
Three and a half weeks ago, Sugar Baby, a.k.a. Grumpy gave birth to eight
kits. She had a bad cold at the time as did five of my other ferrets. One
of the kits was stillborn. One died within a few hours. Grumpy went into
pneumonia 24 hours postpartum. She was treated aggressively. Day 2 of
pneumonia, I awoke to hear screaming babies. Grumpy has passed out beside
the nest box. The runt of the litter had died - I think Grumpy had been
"out cold" for most of the night. We were down to five. Grumpy took care
of her babies, despite her illness. She was so weak for several days, she
did not have the energy to get from nest box to litter box and so I helped
her, and retrieved kits for her. We had no choice for the kits - no other
recent litters to foster too. She made it through the pneumonia - I went
virtually around the clock with her for five days. I fully expected to lose
the rest of the litter and possibly Grumpy too - so we made no birth
announcements.
She recovered and Amoxi discontinued on day ten. The following day, she
developed mastitis. Flying in the face of convention, I went underground at
this point. I made the decision to treat the mastitis and try to keep the
babies nursing. This is usually against advice for fear of passing on
infection to the kits, and can have grievess results for the jill.. We had
no choice on fostering. She recovered from the mastitis and the kits grew.
Finished course of Amoxi again. The following day, mastitis set in again.
Knowing the risks, I again started treatment and kept the kits nursing -
often putting the two largest to the most affected mammary glands to bring
down the swelling - Do Not Follow My Course On Treating Mastitis. Other
breeders, save one, and two vets advised me against what I did. However, my
background is in OB-GYN for humans, and so I treated her as I would a
nursing human mother.
Grumpy finally had enough of me hot compressing her, beefing her up with
healthy things, vitamins, duck soup, etc. etc., she took the kits and hid
them under the birthing cages flooring. She was also tired of me changing
the "linens" and litter box everyday for cleanliness because of mastitis.
She went a bit bonkers and bit me hard whenever I got near. Poor thing, I
didn't blame her. She did take meds, and duck soup, but would not let me
see kits or lift her out. On third day, I came home to find the kits back
in the nesting box. They had grown. At this point, we are still battling
mastitis, and I have started the kits on a bit of mush - which they attack
like greedy little pigs. They look like little stoats and I cannot believe
that, with everything we have been through, the kits are very large for
3-1/2 weeks. Look like their age in development, but size of kits nearer 5
weeks. Of course, their daddy, Von Schokolade, weighed in at 5 lb. 1 oz.
when he went into season last year. He is still in and looks like h***.
and probably down to 3-1/2 lbs. now. Poor guy.
Rest of my crew behaving like maniacs. Everyone naughty and bad. Some are
grieving for ferrets that have left us. Four kit jills from different
litters June & July are running amok. This includes Kaitlyn, a black sable
now turned sable; My Black Sin, a black sable (will be shown at PA show
Oct. 7th - watch out black sable lovers - also showing Black Hawk - best
black in Specialty, May show); Honey Suckle Rose, a chocolate mitt; and
little Alicia, a silver mitt. These kits have picked up all the bad habits
from my other obnoxious guys. My Black Sin is a devil. Alicia climbs my
stockings and bare legs 'till I go crazy. Honey Suckle Rose climbs on the
toilet and into the sink - crashing everything to the floor - just like my
Canadian devils. She is spending today in stir - the time out cage.
Kaitlyn just likes to be where everything is happening, and participate. I
live in a zoo.
The best invention in recent times, in my opinion, is a litter called Pine
Fresh. I hear there has been some controversy about this. Everything
advertised on the bag is true. It has totally revolutionized my life. Cut
down on box changes by half. More absorbent. Less odor. As simple as can
be on emptying - just scrape out with spatula - box looks like it was never
used. Great stuff. Currently on special in my area at Safeway for $1.39 a
bag. My whole trunk is full. You only need to use about 1/4 as compared to
gravel type litters. Do try it. No oils or anything artificial is added.
And It Cuts Down On Digging Out the Litter Boxes by our little devils. Not
as much fun to dig out little logs which change to a heavy sawdust with use.
Also heard some controversy on owners giving vaccine injections rather than
by vet. Many of us give our own vaccinations because of number of ferrets
we own and cost by vet doing it. Although I give my own their distemper
shots - I strongly urge using the vet for this - reactions, especially
anaphylaxsis, or other allergic reaction can result in death and is very
serious. (death is always very serious). If you don't know how to manage a
bad reaction - don't give the injections. You should keep epinephrine and
injectible benadryl in sterile syringes ready to go, if you need them.
Advice on this should come from your vet. Recently had a call with allergic
reaction to fervac. Owner had nothing on hand except benadryl capsules. I
instructed her to break one and rub powder in ferrets mouth on gums and
tongue -- it was a miracle, I think, with this desperate measure, that the
ferret survived. Hey, although I give my own shots - I hate to do it, and I
have given thousands of injections in my previous career. Every time I line
up my guys for their shots, I cross my fingers. Let your vet worry about
this - it is better. By the way, you should stick around after an injection
for about 30 minutes -- just in case.
Gotta go - sorry to take up so much space. meg P.S. Gary, where are you -
tried to send you a letter and it came back - send me your address again.
best, meg.
[Posted in FML issue 1329]
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