Hello everyone!!!  It's Jennifer, Sasha, and Snowball.... We've finally
arrived in Seattle, WA after a tremedously LONG and exhausting relocation
trip a month ago from Kansas City, MO but we're all getting adjusted to
the wonderful sunny and COOL weather and starting to adjust to live in
the beautiful pacific NW!  (Wish I had time to let you all in on
everything that happened during our 5 day excursing but let's just say
it was the MOVE FROM HELL!!!!)
 
Anyway, I've moved in with a wonderful woman with 3 ferrets (1.5 yrs(F),
3 yrs(F), and 5 yrs(M) and we've been trying to work on "blending" the
family, with limited success.  Saturday afternoon at around 1pm I was
playing with the 1.5 yr. old female, Opossum, next to my Sasha and all
was well.  Opossum seemed a bit more sluggish than usual but I thought
she was just tired from running around the house all morning so I put her
back in her pen.  At that time I noticed she looked "groggy" as well but
assumed she was just falling asleep.  When I checked on the brood about 5
hrs. later, Opossum was stone cold and stiff and I just came unglued!!!!
I had yet to experience the death of any animal in over 10 years so this
was a tremendous shocker to me and I was just absolutely baffled!  There
was no indication that ANYTHING was horribly wrong and there was no blood
visible anywhere, however Opossum had been suffering from a protruding
anal for several weeks but my roomie thought that it wasn't anything
extremely urgent because Opossum wasn't showing any signs of discomfort
and she was going to take Opossum to the vet immediately when she
returned from a trip to Florida (She had left 8/26 and was set to return
this past Sunday).
 
Well, I had to call my roomie at 3am to break the news to her because she
wasn't coming back from Florida until late the next day (this past
Sunday).  Naturally now, my roommate feels incredibly guilty for not
having taken Opossum to the vet sooner and just believes that Opossum's
death was a result of the anal problem.  Well, not being able to provide
ANY suggestions whatsoever as to what happened has been plaguing ME, too,
ever since and my roommate at first just wanted me to bury Opossum before
she even got home because it would be too difficult for her to bear (any
maybe out of guilt) but she has since reconsidered and hasn't done
anything yet because there is no appropriate place near our apt. for a
burial site.  (Right now Opossum is in our freezer).
 
I am hoping I can possibly convince her to have an autopsy done but I
feel I'm being selfish that I'm forcing her to do something she doesn't
want to do and I am not respecting her wishes but on the flip side, I'm
not sure if I could live with not ever knowing what happened since it was
so very sudden and at such a young age.  I'm really hoping my roommate
willl reconsider the autopsy although she does run the risk of finding
out that Opossum's death was indeed brought on by the protruding anal
gland problem in some way and she said that if that WAS the case, she
wouldn't be able to forgive herself (understandably).
 
So, any suggestions anyone?????  My roommate has a good vet that she has
recommended (in the Seattle Eastside area) but I'm wondering if anyone
has any other suggestions or if anyone living in our area could recommend
a vet that does very good autopsies and creamation services????
 
I'm working on borrowed time here so PLEASE email me directly at this
address with any suggestions you may have - thanks so much for everyone's
prayers and thoughtfulness and help.
 
Mourning the terrible loss . . . .
Jen, Sasha & Snowy (and the new gang - Stephanie, Bett & Clyde)
[Posted in FML issue 4259]