My sweet, dove-eyed angel ferret, Gidget passed away in her sleep some time
Saturday.  She had exploratory surgery last Tuesday.  This is what was
found: Grossly enlarged spleen - no tumors seen, Liver was mottled with 1
mm light colored areas (tumors!), Pancreatic mass adjacent to duodenum,
cystic masses along the small intestines.  Unable to locate her left
adrenal (Prior surgery?), right adrenal appeared normal.  No tumors were
removed nor was the spleen removed.  Biopsies were taken and we are waiting
on the results.  Doc said that if he had removed all the tumors, there
would not have been enough Gidget to bring home.  ~sigh~
 
She was doing well from her surgery.  Eating drinking, pooping, peeing.
She was alert, enjoyed walking around a bit and LOVED her Nutrical.  I
was sooo surprised to find her dead in her sleep box.  Doc said he wasn't
surprised due to what he had seen.  Doc will be doing a post-mortem.
 
Gidget was surrendered to me just before Christmas last year.  I was her
fifth or sixth home.  We decided NOT to adopt her out.  We wanted her to
have a stable home for as long as possible.  She was a gentle lap ferret.
I miss her terribly.
 
I agonized over whether to do surgery or not.  Sometimes I think it's
better to leave well enough alone.  Maybe she would still be alive if I'd
not disturbed her.  It's a lot of stress to go through anesthesia and
surgery - especially for an older ferret.  At least she wouldn't have been
stressed out and in pain.  She showed no signs of pain before the surgery.
Her spleen was obviously enlarged, that's why I went with the surgery.
It's soooo hard to know what to do.  I feel very guilty.
 
Tequita the guilty one
Ferret Haven
The Piedmont Ferret Association
[Posted in FML issue 2776]