My little princess Meadow had an very traumatic encounter with one of the
new shelter ferrets.  Simon came to us from a local rescue that deals
mostly with dogs but takes in other pets as well.  Simon was from a pair
but the shelter operator adopted out his sister and turned Simon over to
me because he chased her daughter around and scared her.  Simon is a big
big boy and very sweet, but I'm sure he is very upset with the sudden
loss of his sister.  Well Simon was out in my room and Meadow was being a
naughty girl, biting at her cage so i would let her out.  I was lying in
bed dying from this cold flu thing and not thinking I just put her out to
play.  Well Simon came across her and just attacked her.  I heard the
ruckus and jumped out of bed and got Meadow away from him.  she had no
visible signs of injury but was very very upset.  She started open mouth
breathing and acted like she couldn't breath very well, but she was
breathing ok.  This continued for quite sometime and I debated going to
the emergency clinic.  But from previous experence with the ones in town,
I knew they would not know what to do for her and I knew she would be
better off with me.  I stayed up pretty much all night just in case she
showed signs that she was getting worse, but she seemed better but still
very lethargic and sneezy.  so first thing the next morning she went in
to see her doc, the wonderful Dr. Kolmstetter.  Since the doc was in
surgery I had to drop her off and go back to work.  i left her there
knowing that if anything serious was wrong with her it was all my fault
for being irresponsible.
 
Dr. K called me at 2:00 and let me know that she saw no signs of any
life threating injurys, but feels Meadow got very traumatized and
may have brusing and soreness of her throat.  she is keeping Meadow
overnight, bringing her home with her and will observe her until
tomorrow.  she feels Mead will be ok, but will make sure before
sending her home.
 
Meadow is the most gentle soul I have ever seen, she loves everybody,
every ferret, she has never had a moment of trauma since comming to the
shelter, she is a pampered princess.  As most of you know Meadow is
paralized from the waist down and has to be manually squeezed 2-3 times
daily to go potty and gets baths daily and bedding changed constantly as
many times she goes poop with out knowing she is going.  she has a big
group of ferret friends to play with and they all love her and play with
her like she is not handicapped.  Meadow has no idea she has a handicap!
when I got home tonight from work I looked at her empty cage and cried,
I could never forgive myself if anything happened to her.  i am here to
take care of her and protect her and I feel like I failed her.  i only
hope she will fully recover and go back to being the spunky, bratty
princess that she is!
 
i know Meadow has many folk on the FML that love her and i just wanted to
let you all know what happened to her.  i am a bad ferret mommy, i can't
even begin to express how i feel about her and what happened.
 
And Simon is not at fault, he is a beautiful big boy that hopefully
will adjust in to a new loving home, he is young and very healthy and
will be going into adoptions so he can be loved and cared for as he
deserves to be.
 
Thnaks for letting me get this off my chest,
CJ
24 Carat Ferret Rescue And Shelter
where ferrets are treated like gold"
(except when mom is an idiot)
[Posted in FML issue 4357]