Well, I know I haven't typed a whole lot to this list.  I usually just sit
back and read the posts.  Yesterday my ferret went in for exploratory
surgery - expecting it to be adrenal.  It was not.  He had tumors all over
everything.  They removed his spleen and behind his spleen was a tumor the
size of a golfball.  He was such a tubby guy, we used to joke "what did he
do, swallow a tennis ball?" Guess it wasn't too far off.  This was the guy I
got last July at a garage sale where no one knew what sex he was or even
noticed he was blind in one eye.  He couldn't walk for several weeks because
he had never been let out of his cage for such a long time no one could
remember.  He got his strength back and had been dashing around my
apartment.  But his favorite thing to do was to find a dark corner with a
towel or blanket, curl up and go to sleep.
 
The vet called only two hours after I dropped him off so I knew it wouldn't
be good.  He advised the most humane thing to do was just to let him slip
out during surgery and not wake him up.  He could have been stitched back up
but the quality of life would have been very poor and not for long.  I hope
yesterday he found a nice warm place and got to drift off to sleep happily
where no one would scooop him up and interrupt his dreams.
 
Quinn was my fist ferret.  I had then gotten him a buddy, Gus.  Gus I posted
about in January.  He was diagnosed with rectal cancer the day before
Christmas and was put down mid January as he did nothing but cry to me how
much everything hurt.  Quinn had been doing fine till I noticed hair loss
and a funny thing happening to his skin.  That was last week.  I miss my
fuzzles.  After loosing two for two to cancer, I do not plan on getting
another ferret.  I could not loose another guy, especially after reading how
common cancers and tumors are in ferrets.  So, thank you for sharing your
many stories on the little critters, and I wish them all the best of health.
Special thanks to Troy Linn and Ferret Family services, without whom I could
not have afforded the last two weeks of vet care.
 
Signing off,
Karie
[Posted in FML issue 1919]