Today we had to put our little girl Pepper to sleep.  Pepper developed
diabetes over a year ago, but after getting past the initial crisis
she did beautifully on twice-a-day insulin shots.  Two weeks ago she
underwent adrenal surgery.  She turned out to be bilateral, so our vet
removed the left gland and partially froze the right.  For a while she
seemed to be recovering.  But on Sunday she completely stopped eating,
and over the next few days it became clear that she was suffering from
kidney failure and possible Addison's, all complicated by her diabetes.
Even if we were able to magically balance her body chemistry, she would
have been on fluids for the rest of her life.  It was very hard to give
up on her.  She's been through so much and always manages to fight her
way back to good health.  But this time it was just too much for her to
overcome.
 
Pepper was a very special ferret to us.  She had a beautiful silver coat
and was the most photogenic of our gang.  She loved jangly balls of all
sorts.  Her favorite game was to crawl around underneath a blanket and
chase a jangly ball sitting on top of the blanket.  She and her friends
Ginger and Sned made up the "Goofy Troop".  The three of them got all
crazy together: bouncing, pouncing, and playing rousing games of tube
wars.  She was also a great climber; one time we tore up the house
looking for her only to find her fast asleep on the top shelf of our
linen closet.
 
We have a few diabetes supplies that we would like to donate to anyone
who can use them... ferret, cat, dog, or whatever.  We have two bottles
of Ketodiastix urine test strips.  We also have a nearly full box of
insulin syringes (UltiCare 1/2cc, 29 gauge, 1/2", U-40).  I don't know
what are the legal requirements to transfer prescription veterinary
needles, but I can look into that.  Please let me know if you can make
use of them as I hate to see them go to waste.
 
Hugs to all the furry ones, and special healing thoughts to all the sick
fuzzies out there.
 
Julie
[Posted in FML issue 4751]