Hi, all.  The clinic where I used to work had a lady come in with two
ferrets that a friend had given her; the "friend" claimed the ferrets
were both perfectly healthy, but when the "friend" dropped them off at
this lady's house, the little boy was completely naked, with two masses
on his head, and the little girl has a distended abdomen.  The lady
begged my former clinic to take them in because her husband was going
to kill them.  (I think this lady needs to start hanging with a better
class of people....)
 
Anyway, here's their story:
 
"Lillie" (both ferrets were named by my former clinic): 3-yr-old sable
spayed Marshall Farms female, very sweet.  Relatively healthy on PE, but
with that distended abdomen-my old boss thinks it may just be an enlarged
spleen, but wants to do an ultrasound to be sure.  She has a back toe
that was dislocated at some point and healed wrong, but causes her no
problems.  She has a tiny red spot on her back and a red crusty spot on
her ear, but these do not seem to really be a problem.
 
"Noodie" (my friends are really original... ;) ): The "friend" told this
lady he was 8, but my boss thinks, judging by the moderate tartar on his
teeth and general appearance, that he is more like 5.  He is a neutered
sable Marshall Farms boy.  He is very naked, but really, really spunky
and active and alert.  He has one mass on his head that appears to be a
mast cell tumor, and another that looks like a wart.  He has a palpable
abdominal mass, and they have separated the two today so they can monitor
his urine output.  He also has a heart murmur.  He needs an ultrasound as
well.  My clinic really feels strongly that he is SO active, etc., that
they want to give him the best available set of options.
 
The little girl is a little depressed, and both are a bit malnourished
and dehydrated and neglected, but they are being cared for very well
right now.
 
I am working on seeing if one of my radiologist connections will help
us out with some cheap but good ultrasounds (and an echocardiogram for
Noodie), and my boss can help with some "free" bloodwork in addition to
fecals and UAs, but their abandoned animal fund is tapped out due to
other recent rescues, and we are hoping for some help.
 
They are in no imminent need of leaving the clinic-my old boss and
coworkers are happy to care for them there, but we do need some financial
assistance and would love to also find them a home where they can be
together.  One of my current doctors, a board-certified surgeon, has
offered to do adrenal surgery, but I work for a big corporate network
of clinics that already does a lot of charity work for at least four
shelters, so I'm not sure how much of a break I can get on surgery costs;
I have to talk to some folks today.  At the very least, we'd like to
start this little fellow on Lupron, and I can get injections of that for
$28 or less due to the volume of ferrets my old clinic sees.
 
Any help with maybe some bedding (sleep sacks and cuddle cups would be
ideal-it's hard to hang a hammock in our hospital cages, but one or two
for if they go home for awhile in a cage one of my old coworkers has
would be good.  Food bowls, water bottles would be nice, and some toys.
I'm pretty tapped out right now myself, having just spent over $400
(WITH my discount!) on Shannon's last illness and surgery, I still have
Bandit's to do, I'm carless, and I just bought all my Giving Tree stuff,
but I will also do what I can.
 
Please email me privately if you can help, as I am VERY behind on FMLs!
 
Thanks in advance,
 
April
[Posted in FML issue 4352]