Our Little Girl
    The story of our little girl is not an easy story to relate nor is it a
happy one to pass on, but if in telling this story, the life of one ferret is
saved, the Little Girl's life will have had a purpose.
    It begin on Oct. 22, 1993 when she and her 5 brothers and sisters were
born to a very surprised owner.  He had no idea his ferret was pregnant and
knew nothing about ferret breeding.  Momma died 3 days later from an infected
mammary that became gangrenous.  This left our Little Girl and her 5 brothers
and sisters orphans.  She came into our lives at that time.  The owner
contacted a friend of mine who happened to have a new mommy as well.  Success
was finally in our corner.  The Little Girl and her brothers and sisters were
carefully nurtured and raised by their foster Mom along with 5 step-siblings.
 
    Our friend found what here to for had been a good home for her.  Called
and asked, when she was old enough, if she had had her shots and been spayed.
The new owner reassured my friend that all had been done to insure the health
of the animal.  Five weeks ago, the Little Girl's new owner got busted in
California.  Not a good situation at it's best but none the less the
authorities were very co-operative.  The new owner claimed ownership and has a
'truck driving' father-in-law that would take the animals out of state when he
came back through.  The authorities agreed to the unusual arrangements and
boarded the animals (Little Girls fellow ferrets, a MF male and a MF female
were taken as well).  Last Friday the animal shelter boarding these three
contacted the CDFA, saying it had been 28 days since they had had any contact
with the owner and that they felt one of the ferrets was ill.  Would we please
intervene and take care of her.  After allot of legal hassles, these animals
were not in our jurisdiction because the owner had claimed them, the animals,
including the Little Girl, were released to our rescuer.  She took one look at
the ill ferret and did an on the spot diagnosis and a quick education of the
animal shelter so they would know what to watch for in the future.  Little
Girl was in heat, for an undetermined amount of time.  She was rushed to the
vet, where she was given the hormone shot to take her out of heat and spaying
was scheduled for Tues.  She was too weak for immediate surgery and Monday was
a holiday.  When I saw her, for the first time, on Sunday.  She didn't play
but she did get up and move and ate her ferretvite.  The rescuer felt she was
not getting better after the initial spurt caused by the shot.  Monday she was
rushed to the Emergency Clinic where a transfusion was done.
 
   The Little Girl died at 4:15pm from arrest, caused by the weakened condition
of her body from the Aplastic Anemia.  The vet in the Emergency clinic said
she had been in heat at least 4 weeks and that even had surgery been
attempted on Friday when we first got our hands on her she would not have
survived.  She did not die from ignorance, her owner had been told about the
ramifications of not having her spayed.  He obviously didn't care, and wanted
to breed her anyway...... and the result is the painful useless death of a
wonderful ferret.
    People have asked me why I go Thermo-Nuclear when I hear of someone with a
female in heat and they are looking for a male.  Breeding is NOT easy.  The
male should be located BEFORE she goes into heat.  Female ferrets WILL die,
tragically, if not bred or spayed.  Now people know why I get so upset.
   This was a useless death caused by the ego of the owner.  People have got to
quit equating making love with reproduction.  Ferrets do not have sex for the
sake of enjoyment.... they do it for procreation, and if the owner doesn't
know what they are doing they shouldn't attempt to breed their ferret(s).
CDFA1
[Posted in FML issue 1211]