Hello.  OP passed away on 9-18, Thursday afternoon.  It was a tough time for
us.  But he is not suffering anymore.  I now understand how it feels to lose
a pet ferret.  And I sympathize with everyone that has experienced it.  We
only had him 5 months.  He sounded like he was having a severe asthma
attack.  Vet gave us antibiotics.  He got a little better and then went back
down.  The lump on his neck grew very large.  It felt like a large lump over
the side of his neck with a smaller lump near his nose.  It looked painful.
It probably made it very difficult to swallow and breathe.  He wouldn't eat
for about 3 days before he died.  We tried to force food and water down him,
but he would run away.  He also had a lot of white phlegm stuff in his
mouth.  When we did get something down him he hacked like he was choking.
He couldn't walk.  He'd take a few steps and lie down.  The morning of his
death he was barely breathing and he would draw his legs together like he
was having seizures.  We miss him.
 
Spirit, my other ferret, is doing well so far.  We have been keeping a close
eye on him.  He has sneezed a couple of times the past 2 days.  I hope he
doesn't get sick.  Losing one is enough.  We kept OP isolated from Spirit.
We never got a diagnosis on OP, so there is a chance he could have had
something contagious.  Spirit gets all our attention.  He doesn't seem to
miss OP.  He even seems to have perked up more.  We read ferrets were apt to
become lonely and enjoyed other ferrets.  So after we had Spirit around a
year, we brought OP home.  Spirit didn't care for OP.  OP was bigger than
Spirit and played rough.  OP often made Spirit cry.  We kept vinegar and
water handy to spray Spirit with if OP became too rough.  After a while
Spirit seemed to adjust to his new house guest.  He became brave enough to
attack OP all by himself.  But Spirit seems to be doing well thus far, and I
am grateful.
 
Thanks to everyone that offered information and advice.
 
Celeste and Spirit
[Posted in FML issue 2073]