Meeteetse had her second dose of DES today.  For those who don't know she's
an almost 8 year old chocolate Marshall Farms ferret who has some hind end
weakness, urinary and fecal incontinence problems, insulinoma, a benign
splenic tumor, and a right adrenal tumor which is asymptomatic but showed
up on ultrasound, and has some slight misplaced calcification showing up on
a lumbar x-ray.  She's a happy soul who is not hurting but obviously hates
her incontinence.  I wanted to let you know that since Thursday she has
had ONLY THREE accidents -- as many (sometimes fewer) than she used to
have in a day.  It may be coincidence, or it may be that adding DES to
her medications (which also include Diazoxide compounded in a liver flavor,
and Prednisone) may be helping her.  It's something to keep in mind for
the old females who get incontinence.  Will let you know if her good trend
continues.  BTW, she's been more active again since Thursday, too (though
she has always been a very active soul even at her worst), and we've tried
litter pots again with her just starting last night (and using a clay
litter due to her hind end weakness) and she was actually able to use the
litter pots four times.  The pots we have are ramp style ones which we got
in a pet store, and the very low entry style that Marshall Pets makes.
She's used both.
 
Ashling really, really wants to get back in the big cage for sleep times
and have the large-area romps during play hours, and to use a litter box
with real litter, but she still has two tiny dots on her incision with
scabs so we are making her be careful still.  Yesterday's News actually
would have been safe post-op but the store was out of it, and she can't use
the other ones till better so she's on newspaper for now.  She is strong as
can be and doing wonderfully since her surgery about a week and a half ago.
 
For those few who misread: Of course, we know that unplanned things can
happen; heck, we've got the Labs possibly going away this year and we've
got 11 of 12 elderly relatives (blood and marriage on each side) in bad
shape now with heart troubles, orthopedic woes, strokes, Alzheimers, heart
and circulatory damage, etc.  Those are just MORE reasons to budget and
save, not excuses not to do so.  Also, if you check my post I think it's
clear enough that I was addressing what happens when people DO NOT THINK
AHEAD or ARE NOT GIVEN ENOUGH ACCURATE INFORMATION TO PLAN AHEAD, not
what happens when they think ahead but the unexpected happens in just too
extreme a form.  Living modestly, budgeting carefully, avoiding debt, and
keeping weekly budget books may seem a real bore (and sure can be at
times -- although a bit of inventiveness and lot of love go a long way to
dispelling boredom with the first three while the last just has to be lived
with for its benefits) but they keep furfaces and people safe in the hard
times and allow for helping relatives in need.  They also allow a person to
behave like an independent adult.  They are habits worth having.
[Posted in FML issue 3145]