Sorry it's been so long since I've given an update.
 
Thanks to so many of your donations and a few dear friends, all the Utah
kids have had their adrenal surgeries and a few other procedures done.  I
wish I could thank each of you individually!  It truly seemed overwhelming
in the beginning with so many needing surgeries that I wasn't sure it
would ever get done.  The thought of these wonderful kids going
indefinitely without the surgeries was quite depressing.  Once again, the
ferret community has been more than generous to help all the Utah kids.
Details are:
 
PEBBLES: Insulinomic and a grade 3 heart murmur.  She a very spunky
little girl and doing well on pred.  I didn't expect her to make it till
Christmas but thankfully, she's surprised us.  Pebbles has a best friend
in Penny who was also on the Giving Tree with Pebbles and they're two old
ladies, the blind leading the blind.  Penny isn't a Utah kid but was also
a special rescue, has had her third Lupron and is growing hair while
Pebbles seems to be losing hair.
 
JJ: JJ's adrenal surgery was in December.  He had minimal hair loss at the
time but continued to lose hair and become bald.  Poor guy.  Just this
past week, he's growing hair but blocked on Sat.  morning, managed to let
loose a plug while we were at the vets and is doing wonderfully now.
 
KRAMER: Had x-rays of the large tumor on his head as I was worried it may
be growing inward.  It wasn't.  However, he's going in for blood work on
Wed.  as he's too lethargic.  The vet said she didn't think the tumor was
bothering him too much but it's growing pretty fast now.  He's happiest
when he's cuddled in someone's lap.
 
KOSMO: Kramer's good buddy is doing great.
 
CASPER: Adrenal surgery 3 weeks ago and he did beautifully.  We also
removed one mast cell tumor but he has 3 more to go now.  LUKE: His was
almost two weeks ago and he did wonderfully also.  It took 4.5 months to
get these two to get along.  They were so funny together, like a love/hate
relationship with Luke hissing at Casper all the time, finally getting
enough nerve to get in Casper's face to hiss at him. :)  Their second
night out together after both doing so well from surgery, Luke put himself
to bed with Casper.
 
FRITO: Frito wasn't so lucky.  His surgery went well but he was also
diagnosed with IBD and had a real tough time.  Thankfully, he's doing
pretty good now and we need to try pred on him again.
 
KATIE: Katie also had a very hard time with her surgery.  We think she
had a touch of pancreatitis even thought her pancreas looked fine.  She's
doing very good, just needs to gain weight.
 
JACK: Jack was the old guy with one testicle which was removed in
December.  It's with a very heavy heart that I let him go to the Bridge
this morning after being diagnosed with diabetes yesterday.  Had him to
the vet on Friday for pus coming from his penis, he was put on antibiotics
but really went downhill yesterday.  He had a mass on his penis and
necropsy showed two discolorations on his intestines, NO right adrenal
gland and the left one very tiny.  I expect the tissue samples to show
lymphoma.  Jack was just one who was very sick on arrival who stole our
hearts.  But he was very special as he was such an old guy, so sick and
which he showed by biting me to the bone.  He not only grew in size but
became so loving and was such a joy to see him play.  But only in slow
motion. :)  Jack just didn't do anything very fast except guard his barrel
in the rice box.  He showed his excitement in the sand box by turning
somersaults.  Today, just before his "shot", I tried to give him a couple
of drops of water from my finger but he was digging at his mouth from
nausea.  His canine tooth went through the side of my thumb which made me
laugh despite my tears and thinking he came to me with a bite and is
leaving me with a bite.  Full circle.
 
All the other Utah kids have been adopted and these guys are ready for
adoption also.
 
There are other medical problems with some of the shelter kids and we're
slowly trying to get them taken care of.
 
Re Jen Morrison's statement that the Utah kids were made sick during
transport.... There are many posts regarding the condition of all the Utah
ferrets.  Here alone, my vet checked each ferret and noted his findings.
Many with enlarged spleens, enlarged lymphnodes, very visible tumors that
should not have been allowed to grow to the size they were.  One big guy
had a very ugly tumor on the side of his neck, another, besides Kramer,
had one on the top of his head.  A tiny little girl had a large chordoma
on the tip of her tail.  Several have heart murmurs, Pebbles being a grade
3 along with insulinoma, blindness and now hair loss.  Most had poor
muscle tone, several had no muscle tone!  Many had bad teeth, most had ear
mites.  One still whole!  These things did not occur during transport nor
the short time they were in Animal Control.  Enough said.
 
The Dook Nook will be moving to SW FL in the next 2-3 weeks.  How, I don't
know yet. :)  With all the surgeries and many vet trips this past week, I
haven't even thought about packing.  Well, I've thought about it, just
haven't done it.  Till I know a new email addy, please note the
 
new one above as mediaone was taken over by att.
 
Hugs to all the little ones and their caretakers,
Jackie & Crew
 
http://www.dooknook.homestead.com/index.html
http://blurryfurrys.com/raffle.html
[Posted in FML issue 3754]