It is with a heavy heart that I had to let my oldest boy, Nickel, go
tonight.  He fought insolinoma, adrenal disease (2 years after having
surgery for it) and disk disease in his spine.  His quality of life
slowly went downhill as I watched him gain so much weight from pred and
eating so much.  I tried to cut him back but he had just ballooned up and
it was too late.  I felt I was in a catch 22 due to his insolinoma which
he seemed to manage without problems, through eating throughout the day.
For the past few months he just wanted to eat and sleep.  He just had an
ultrasound 2 weeks or so ago to rule out a mass in his belly.  It was
just plain fat, no mass.  His spleen and prostate were enlarged some as
we knew.  The past few days, he was not coming to the door for his
breakfast, lunch or dinner, which was so unlike him, he eagerly looked
forward to it.  I noticed he was slowly pooping around not being able to
make it to the litter box or newspapers.  He was even eating less.  Then
Saturday, I saw him falling over on one side when he tried to walk, it
was like one leg just wouldn't hold him up anymore.  Next day he was
crawling around, barely able to get around, he did not want to eat.  I
switched appointments that I had for a lupron shot for one of my other
ferrets and brought Nickel in.  Our vet xrayed his spine because it was
painful.  You could see in the film where his disk spaces were very
narrow.  She kept him and was going to give him high doses of steroids
and express his bladder because it was so full.  He could not go on his
own even when she expressed him.  She called me this morning to let me
know there was no change except when she expressed him, he finally took
over.  I had planned on seeing him and taking it from there.  My husband
and I went to see him tonight and after a long discussion with our vet
and observing him, we knew it was time.  You could just tell he was not
happy or comfortable.
 
I hate making these decisions and this is the part of pet ownership that
I hate.  Loving them is so easy and letting them go is so damn hard.
 
My heart goes out to all of you who have lost a ferret.  It is one of the
hardest things that happen in life.
 
Eleanor and the 6 ferrets, missing Nickel, now at the bridge with his
cagemate Cooper J.
[Posted in FML issue 5182]