THE LIFE OF JESSICA
By Pamela Troutman Grant
This is the story of Jessica, probably one of the most dramatic incidents of
surviving under strange odds that either of my vets have ever seen. This is
how she overcame all obstacles to show us what ferrets are really made of.
5/21/89 - a mixed litter of kits comes into the world. From a sable named
Missy out of the Chicago area, mated to a black-eyed white patterned male
from Georgia we named Casper, are born two pandas, an albino, a sable mitt
and a sable with 2 white toes and a bent nose. All but the last would make
fine show ferrets. The mother got mastitis at four weeks and the kits had
to be hand fed. Missy had only four nipples to begin with, and when the one
became infected and fell off, we had her spayed.
7/89 - the odd sable is sold as a pet and named Jessica. She is very much
loved by her owner and when she comes of age, is mated with a bouncy
chocolate male named Finley who has a cinnamon background.
4/21/90 - a litter of three cinnamons and three sables is produced by
Jessica. She is a wonderful mother and has no problems bringing up the kits.
3/21/91 - I'm not making up the dates, 21 must be a good number for Jessica.
She had been mated to a black-eyed white named Polar Bear LeBlanc this year
and gave birth to two albinos, a silver, a chocolate mitt, a cinnamon mitt,
and a panda. Unfortunately, three weeks later, Jessica develops mastitis.
Mastitis is the infection of the milk glands in lactating mothers. Kits
that have conjunctivitis (pink eye infection) indicate the first sign that
the mother may have a problem. Whether the milk is infected, giving the
kits' conjunctivitis and then the kits infect the breasts themselves by
biting the teats, or the mother has an infection that first appears as
conjunctivitis in her kits and then develops into mastitis, is still a
mystery similar to the "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" question.
4/11 - Jessica is discovered to have one black nipple and is rushed for
antibiotics to Dr. Kawasaki. By the time she returns home later in the
evening, all six of her nipples are black. The next morning she is taken to
Dr. Hart because the swelling has increased. He lances the breasts to try
to drain the infection. Nothing much comes out. Jessica is given heavy
antibiotics and cepha-drops. We were instructed to soak her in Epsum salts
daily.
4/17 - Jessica goes back to Dr. Hart for a recheck. Her breasts are hard
and little infection has been squeezed out of the area. The Dr. slices the
other side of nipples for better drainage of any puss. Jessica refuses to
eat solid food now and is on a diet similar to what I am feeding her kits.
The runt albino died at three weeks of age, but the rest are strong and
survive.
4/20 - The smell of rotting tissue from the infection is enough to "knock
one off their feet." My husband is giving Jessica her a morning soak when he
notices the bath water turning color. He gives her a look over to discover
a two inch tear in her left leg where the skin had sloughed apart and now
exposed green puss. We rushed her to Dr. Hart. He was taken aback by her
condition and forced to remove all six breasts and the skin around her left
leg. He had to remove everything up to the stomach wall. There was not
enough good skin to sew her back together again. Her stomach was sewn to
the stress point and the left leg muscle left exposed. We picked her up on
Sunday.
By Monday, she had removed one stitch from her leg. By Tuesday, Jessica had
several ripped off her stomach. There was too much stress on the stitches.
Jessica went back to Dr. Hart Tuesday evening and he "taped" her skin back
together. We left he over night and it was a good thing too. By Wednesday
morning he discovered that the ferret had pulled that patch job apart. So
Jessica was re-stitched, glued, taped and then wrapped to hold her together.
Bandages were changed 4/27.
With the left leg muscle being exposed, Jessica used that leg less and less.
We kept her confined to a small kennel carrier to keep her wound from
scraping on wire so she got little exercise. There was no method with her
stomach being taped, to apply a bandage to her leg. Jessica was feeling
better and had returned to her dry diet of Dad's, Pro Plan and Iams. She
also wanted to get out and play, but I could not make sure the area beyond a
clean towel on the couch was sanitary enough to allow her to "run".
5/3 - Jessica's bandages are removed and with a few days of direct air
drying, her stitches can come out.
5/9 - Stitches on her stomach were removed and she underwent an operation to
move healthy skin tissue from her leg to cover her knee. Jessica did not
like the change in antibiotics and tried to spit it out every time. Her leg
was splintered to prevent popping open any stitched area, and this made it
difficult for her to walk. So she hopped along on three legs. The bandages
also made it difficult to determine if the skin graphs were taking and
healing.
5/14 - Bandage change. One piece of skin did not take, but the rest looked
really good and should allow the stitches to be removed and no more bandaging
by the weekend.
5/17 - I found the new bandage removed and placed in the food dish this
morning. Since she did not appear to be pulling the stitches out, and the
vet had scheduled the next visit for Saturday, I felt a day early on taking
the bandage off would not hurt Jessica. After all, it was her leg and she
thought it needed air. I applied anti-bacteria ointment just to keep the
area moist and healthy.
5/18 - Dr. Hart removed the remaining stitches and I took Jessica home for
her first real bath in two months. She required physical therapy for
awhile. The muscles in her left hind leg had grown taunt and short with
disuse. I allowed her to run loose for a half hour, then bathed her and
placed her in a 2 foot by 2 foot cage for space.
5/20 - Jessica is allowed reunion time with her kits. They are just as big
as she is. Jessica talked and ran after them all. The next morning I
observed her attempting to scratch her head with her "bad" leg.
6/16 - Jessica has grown skin and fur over most of the area around her knee.
She revisited Dr. Hart and his staff a few days ago and they could not get
over how well she looked. She runs around as if nothing ever happened,
though due to the skin transfer, she has a tight stretch of skin between her
legs. Today I noticed that she is feeling so well, that she went back into
heat. Since she had no nipples to feed kits, she will be spayed as soon as
my vasectomized hob brings her out of season.
1/28/95 - Casper, Jessica's father, was put down today. He was suffering
from a seizure unrelated to insulinoma. Both Jessica and her brother, Runty
(one of the pandas), are doing fine. They are almost 6 years old now. They
live with a stub tail, three footed albino named Lil Bear. Jessica still
likes to play in a fresh, clean litter box, twisting this way and that, her
own dance of joy. She hates other ferrets except her guys. She loves
people though, and will always be the Miracle Ferret.
9/18/95 - Jessica's brother, Runty, passed away today. Cause of death -
unknown.
early 1997 - Jessica went to the vet's to get her teeth cleaned and any bad
ones pulled. The vet tech mixed up the ferrets at the clinic that morning
though and she was opened up for adrenal surgery. The vet says her adrenals
are fine! She healed well from her accidental surgery, and was up and
frolicking with Lil Bear in no time. She had a molar pulled too.
11/27/97 - Today is Thanksgiving. I found Jessica, eyes closed in peaceful
sleep, cold and lifeless this morning. She was eight and a half years old,
and other than a cold two weeks ago, has not been ill in a long time. Lil
Bear stayed with her to the end. He has done nothing but eat since I
removed her. I will put him with two other ferrets his age, now six and a
half, so he will have company.
I'm thankful to have such wonderful pets, that live happy lives and bring
joy to my life every day.
Jessica du Grant - May 21, 1989 to November 27, 1997. RIP.
[Posted in FML issue 2140]
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