Hello All,
 
I know how expensive it can be when one of our beloved fuzzies becomes
ill.  I had 4 ferrets, all originally came from Marshall Farms.  My first
ferret, Sunshine, a bib sable, was bought from a pet store.  My second
ferret, Stretch, a bib sable, was adopted from The Educated Ferret
Shelter.  My third ferret, Snow White, a champagne (?), was from a pet
store and my fourth ferret, Ashley, a silver, was from Ferret Wise
Shelter.
 
My first ferret, Sunshine, died last year.  She would have been 5 years
old this May.  She was a very petite ferret and weighed in around 1 1/4
lbs.  She may have been small but she was smart as a whip and the brains
of the group.  She learned how to unlock her cage door, then taught the
others of course.  I miss her terribly.  She just stopped eating one day
and lost weight incredibly fast.  She had no body fat to fall back on.
She spent 2 days at the vet where they forced fed her and kept her in an
incubator because she wasn't maintaining her body temperature.  After two
days she came home and spent one more month in this world before crossing
over.  She had died in her sleep and I found her curled up in one of her
beds.  Even after all these months I still can't type this without tears
coming to my eyes.
 
My second ferret, Stretch, was just diagnosed today with insulinoma at
age 5.2 years old.  He has low blood sugar (50s) and a high liver count
(twice what it should be) and is slightly anemic.  Up until a few days
ago he had been perfectly healthy, war dancing and dooking.  I've learned
that with ferrets things happen very quickly.  This is somewhat of a blow
especially after losing Sunshine less than a year ago.  He is currently
in an isolation cage in my living room so I can monitor his food intake
and output.  At this moment he is "eating in bed" <g>.  He doesn't have
to get out of his hammock to eat or drink and is taking full advantage
of this.  To me the best sound in the world is the sound of kibble being
crunched.  The vet and I are in communication as to his treatment.
Whether it be drugs like prednisone, an ultrasound to check out the mass
that was found, or exploratory surgery this is going to be difficult for
me.  I still have what happened to Sunshine close in my thoughts.
 
My third ferret, Snow White, who's my "baby" of the group became adrenal
by age 10 months.  She was unusual in that she never lost any fur to
this.  Her only outward symptom was an enlarged vulva.  She is my "$2K
baby".  Three surguries before age 3 later she is still adrenal.  She
was given her first Lupron shot at the end of last year and she will be
needing another one soon as her vulva is become enlarged again.  She will
be 5 years old in July.
 
And last but not least is Ashley.  I adopted her at the age of 2 years
old.  She is now 6 years old and still going strong.  I can only hope she
will stay this way until the end.
 
I have to wonder if these illnesses are caused by a poor gene pool due
to overbreeding/inbreeding and early spay/neuter.  I was just looking at
Ashley's paperwork from Marshall Farms.  On the health certificate it
states that 18 ferrets were shipped and were born from 03-15-98 thru
03-21-98.  The ship date is 04-28-98.  That means these ferrets were
only 5 weeks old when shipped, so I have to wonder at what age were they
altered?
 
Looking at Snow White's health certificate there 50 ferrets that were
shipped and were born from 07-04-99 thru 07-10-99 with a ship date of
09-24-99.  It would be nice to believe that these ferrets were 10 weeks
old when shipped, but what's unsettling is that the month had been whited
out with the "09" handwritten in.  From my other 2 health certificates
that I have it seems the "vet" signs these only a few days before
shipping.  But on Snow White's, it was signed 08-20-99.  This makes me
believe that most likely they were shipped 08-24 not 09-24-99.  I guess
one can't expect too much from a mill.
 
I guess I just needed to vent somewhat today.  I just hadn't expected
the news about Stretch, though I always knew that it could happen.  And
I also know that everyone here would understand.
 
Thanks for listening and send good thoughts our way.
 
Take care and give an extra hug to your fuzzies,
Lisa and the crew
[Posted in FML issue 4451]