Hi.  There will be a small funeral tomorrow [Saturday] for Squeek's three
siblings, two of whom were born dead, and one, little Erb, who died 24 hours
after birth.  For those that don't know or remember, Squeek was a baby born
to my jill Claudette.  These were a litter of neural tube babies.  The two
born dead had little caps of blood over exposed bones, the brain crest.  The
other died of a cleft pallate, another birth defect that is part of a group
of birth defects related to defective neural tube development.  Squeek had
many ailments during his short six-month life.  Many of you helped us during
his trials and you were all so kind and are so appreciated.  Thank You.
 
Squeek never had great balance and had a little tilt to his head, but he was
the cutest little blaze ever with a wide-eyed look, guitar-shaped blaze and
tail white-tipped like a flame.  Prior to his illness he was the happiest
and sweetest ferret I've met.  He would clomp along as fast as his legs and
heart could carry him, exploring the house and following the big kids who
had much longer legs.  He sometimes squeeked extra lound when he saw me and
lurched toward me as fast as he could.  Oh he loved life!
 
Thanks to Bruce Williams, I've learned that neural tube babies, even when
they survive and if they appear normal, may have underlying birth defects
and be prone to bacterial infections (since the neural tube is not developed
right).  Squeek's first bacterial infection apparently affected his brain,
and he suffered severly decreased, and progressively decreasing, movement.
Part of his medical workup included x-rays which revealed an apparently huge
kidney, possibly bigger than a full-grown ferrets, one vet said.  When we
first felt it buging from his belly area we thought it was a blockage.
Oddly enought, it seemed to grow and shrink.  Unfortunately I only really
got talking with Bruce about neural tube problems after Squeek's death.  Dr.
Williams said these babies often die of bacterial infections.  He also said
kidney defects were part of the syndrome of defects common to neural tube
disorders.  And that Squeek's huge kidney was probably nothing more than a
bag of water.  It was, the autopsy showed, a large sack, non-functional and
blood filled.  It had burst.  The other kidney was tiny tiny, though it
functioned enough for his blood test to have come back normal when Squeek
first fell ill.
 
Dr. Williams also told me he thinks that the underlying cause of neural tube
disorder is genetic and that ferrets who have neural tube litters are at
best, genetically weak.  He told me that people often bring him the second
litter of neural tube babies, as they're too surprized by the first to do
anything, and that the genetic disorder probably stems from the father, who
is usually the repeat parent in the litter's he's observed.  And he said
that he most often sees neural tube disorders from two parents that are
"color diluted" (blaze, panda, silver mitt, for example); less often when a
sable and color-diluted breed; and seldom (he may have said never) when two
sables breed.  He thought and albino/blaze combo would be more likely to
produce neural tube babies than a sable/sable.  He explained to me that the
color diluted ferrets have smaller gene pools and breeding two together
increases the possiblility of genetic problems.
 
So, with the little funeral, I will put to rest the little group.  They were
at a vets who was going to do some researh.  She theorized that neural tube
might be caused by excessive vitamin a during pregnancy.  One breeder who
has had neural tube litters thinks it's caused by deficient follate during
pregnancy, but Dr. W.  pointed out that, while studies in humans have
related deficient follate to NT problems, the problems are nearly always
seen in human populations that are severly mal-nutritioned; adding that most
breeder ferrets and pet ferrets get pretty good nutrition, and that not much
follate is needed.
 
My vote would be to not breed ferrets that have produced neural tube babies,
or babies of parents who have had such litters.  Dr. W.  says the neural
tube may not show up until the next generation.  The breeder mentioned above
continued to breed ferrets that produced such litters saying that they would
have one NT litter and no more.  But.  Dr. W. was brought a jar of dead
babies last year and traced them back to this breeder.  I don't want to
blame or condemn anyone, but I hope that people who don't want to accept
this will reconsider.  Squeek was such a sick little creature and so
sweet... he did nothing to deserve that deformed little body.  He brought
great love and joy, followed by great grief, pain, and financial drain... I
would not wish this plight on anyone, especially any other sweet, little
Squeek.
 
Mom Claudette was spayed after Squeek's death.  Squeek's daddy, Karas, a
blaze has had one litter (that I know of) bred and born after Squeek.  There
were three healthy babies, plus one that died in the first day or two (and
was not examined, unfortunately) for cleft pallate or other disorders.  I am
not in contact with his owner anymore, but she had said two of the babies
would go to E.  Coast breeders and one would be bred at her ferretry in
Federal Way, Wa.  Apparently he had a couple litters on the E.  Coast around
Oct.  1994.  I hope those who own his babies they'll think twice before
breeding, or perhaps do more research.  No, there is no hard proof that this
is genetic.  But, as Dr. W.  pointed out to me, why take a chance?  Why take
a chance that someone will fall in love with a baby, and that baby will fall
in love with life, only to die a young and possibly painful death, carving a
wake of pain.
 
So, please hold us in your thoughts as we lay these little ferrets to rest
at last.  Erb died in my fingers, just a tiny little blip of ferretdom, but
a ferret nevertheless.  He couldn't eat.  Squeek died in my arms, leaving a
great, gaping hole in our life.  Mom Claudette looked for Erb and her
still-born babies weeks after she'd licked the blood from the tops of their
still heads, exposing eeiry bare bones.
 
And, yes I have definitely seen a ferret cry.  We thought Squeek was dying
when he first fell sick.  We brought mom Claudette to say goodbye.  She
started scratching Janos' leg with her front paws, scratching and
scratching, and she was crying.  It sounded so human, and so forlorn.  It
was if she was entreating the ferret gods, and Janos, to spare Squeek,
bemoaning the unfairness of it all.  Squeek didn't die that night, but in
many ways he left us.  I tried to help him walk, and he would walk outside
with the support of my hands.  He continued to grow, and one vet thought
this was a good sign.  An acupunturist tried to help him, and a T-touch
(massage) and energy worker fell in love with him, and gave him her best,
while Debussy's lilting strains mixed with the warm August air of Squeek's
last days.
 
But nothing could change his birth defects.  And I didn't know enough about
neural tube disorder to realize the futility of our struggle.  I hope
Squeek's life and death can help others, though.  I didn't write about his
death sooner because it hurt a lot for a long time.  And I don't want anyone
to take this information wrongly, but it's important to me that people know
what I learned through Squeek's short passage through life.
 
Squeek taught me lots besides neural tube stuff, but that's grist for a
short story I'm writing about Squeek.  I'll send it to those who wrote me
with help, advice, and support for Squeek, or drop an e-mail if you'd like
to read it.  And, if you know anything about neural tube disorders, I'd be
interested to hear it.  In the meantime, thank you Dr. Williams, for your
help - once again - and I hope I got everything you said correct!  I'm
really grateful to the FML too; what an amazing network of friends.  Thanks
Bill G., too.  And please, if you wish, tomorrow would be a good time to say
a little prayer think a thought for Squeek and his siblings.  Squeek would
have been a year old on February 23.
 
Ferret Dooks and Fuzzy Hugs to my FML friends, furry or not.
 
Lynn and the Gang of Eight fluffy beans
(plus Schroeder Boat Ferguson
 and Squeek Eagle Mansell Stallione,
 in spirit)
[Posted in FML issue 1811]