After some discussion between members, and one very generous offer from our
club treasurer, Pam Sessoms, the Triangle Ferret Lovers decided to go ahead
and have a necropsy done on the little baby Solstice, who died so suddenly
on the night she was named after.  A couple of calls to the family who had
passed her on to us, pretty much told us that they didn't care what
happened to her now, but we were all very concerned that this might have
been something contagious, something that the other kits in the pet store
where she came from, might also have and could be spreading to other
fuzzies in the area.  By the way, it has been confirmed that Solstice was
sold by Pet Depot in Burlington, North Carolina.
 
Dr. Alan Feimster of the Animal Emergency clinic in Cary North Carolina,
who is nothing less than a stellar guy in my book, called me in reply to
the message I left on the clinic answering machine and I explained our
thoughts and what we wanted to do.  Not only did he say that he would do
the gross exam and do all he could to help us out, he offered us a
substantial discount on the procedure.  I told him to get back to me when
he knew something, and expected not to hear anything until after the
holidays, after all this was Christmas Eve.
 
Around seven in the evening Dr. Feimster called back again with his
findings.  Although he could not find the cause, as the poor dear was now a
couple of days post-mortem, Solstice died of a massive internal infection.
By the time she came to us she was very septic, most likely in shock, and
unfortunately there was nothing anyone could have done at that point.  Her
entire chest cavity was filled with pus, and Dr. Feimster said that it was
the kind of thing that you see from a wound that is left to go untreated
or some kind of puncture.  From what he could tell there was some kind of
trauma around her head and neck area.  The crust in and around her nose
was a result of the infection that had spread to her lungs added to her
respiratory distress.
 
The question now is: Why didn't the people at Pet Depot see this?  She was
obviously very sick for probably as long as she had been there.  Did this
happen in transit from Marshall's?  In transit from the distributor?  While
at Pet Depot?  Had someone taken the time at any of those points to notice
her breathing wasn't right, that she was lethargic and not acting well and
taken steps, antibiotics probably could have stopped the infection and she
wouldn't have had to die.  Why did the family buy her when she must have
been very sick when they picked her out?  The only thing we can think of,
was that she was sleeping and they picked her because she looked oh so
cute, all curled up in a ball.
 
Our next move is to visit Pet Depot in Burlington to see what the
conditions are, if they have more kits and if they are healthy.  To find
out where the ball was dropped.  We realize that being diplomatic and
polite in these first stages is crucial to getting Pet Depot to co-operate,
I just hope we can get to the bottom of this, or at the very least try and
educate the people there to know what to look for and what to do if they
have other kits who are sick.  We're hoping that at least little Solstice
didn't die in vain, that she will help educate and improve the lives of
other pet store kits, here and everywhere.  We Hope...we really do.
 
Robynn McCarthy
Triangle Ferret Lovers
[Posted in FML issue 2909]