It is with heavy heart that I write this. My big white fluffy boy,
Rosco, passed away today. He had bowel issues off and on for a while.
I treated him with sweet potato baby food on advice of his shelter mom
and it worked the first two times. He was fine for a while. Then there
was the storm and the loss of power and the hotel stay for a week which
I'm sure stressed him since he was my most active ferret. He started
again with mushy stools. I had a pending vet appt for all my babies in
Dec, but decided he needed to be seen sooner. I called on Sat and got
an appt for Monday. I put him in a separate cage to get a good stool
specimen. I stay up late and that night I was always checking on him.
Around 10 PM Sat I checked him and noticed his stools had turned to
dark loose. I knew what this meant so I started giving him extra
fluids, gave him some Pepto, and watched him through the night. I
grabbed about 3 hours sleep. Today was his vet appt. I gave him some
duck soup and fluids. I had to coax him. He got a little more alert. I
was thankful that he was seeing the vet and would be on meds to get him
on the mend. After his feeding, I brought him to bed with me, wrapped
in a nice warm blanket and just lay there with him. We laid there for
a while. Then he seemed to get a little restless, moved about, and
stretched out. I was rubbing under his chin when his head suddenly came
up and he latched onto my fingers like no ferret ever has. I could
not loosen his grip. I finally released his grip. I suspected it was
probably a seizure but there was no jerking or spasm or anything. When
he let go he whimpered a little then lay back. He was still breathing.

Now I am on blood thinners so the drops were all over the place. I
grabbed the issue box and wrapped my hand in a wad of them. I checked
on Rosco and he seemed to be OK. I had to attend to my hand, so I laid
him in his cage and took care of myself. It took about 10 minutes. When
I went back to him, not only was he gone, but he was stiff. I have
never seen a ferret go so fast or get stiff so fast. So I will keep my
vet appt, only it will be to arrange his aftercare. I will miss him
sooooo much. He was too young to go. It never gets easier losing them
no matter how many times you go through it. I thought I did everything
right to help him. Perhaps I should have known better to call the vet
sooner. But he just did not seem as ill as he apparently was. The
serious signs did not show until it was too late to help him. I will
have a good cry tonight and know he will be with my other furballs that
passed before him. They will welcome him. But it will take time for my
heart to heal and the tears to stop.

All my love to you Big Guy. You were greatly loved in your forever
home. Thank you for the goodybye "love bite".

CathyM

[Posted in FML 7251]