On December 23, 1998, Cadbury was helped over the Rainbow Bridge.
 
Cadbury is the ferret that was rescued, along with dozens of dogs, cats and
other animals, from a rural Ohio home in late October.  He had been kept
outdoors in a maggot infested cage, and had a patchy brittle coat and a
large tumor on the back of his head.  You can find detail at "Ferrets in
Need", http://users.1st.net/hammock/ferrets/
 
The tumor was diagnosed as inoperable osteosarcoma.  Dr. Turner said the
prognosis depended on how fast it was growing.  If it has been there a long
time and was growing slowly, he could be fine for a long time yet.  But if
it was growing quickly, there's not much that can be done.
 
Sadly, it turned out to be the latter.  By mid-December, the tumor had
doubled in size.  In the last two weeks of his life, Cadbury deteriorated
quickly.  His appetite decreased, presumably because chewing was painful.
We tried moistening his food, and giving him canned or liquid diets, but
within a few days, he would only take duck soup from a syringe.  His
balance became affected, and he could not get into the litterbox.  We
removed the box and put in newspapers, but soon he couldn't hold himself
upright and would soil himself.  When let out for playtime, he would
stagger and lurch across the floor, then drag himself under the desk or
into the dryer hose and just lie there.  He would sometimes make little
crying/coughing noises for no apparent reason.
 
On that sunny Wednesday 2 weeks ago, I took the afternoon off from work.  I
went home and fed Cadbury about 15 cc's of duck soup.  Just a few days
earlier, he would eat 25-30 cc's at a time, but his appetite had been
decreasing.  I let him lap up copious amounts of ferretone, his favorite
treat.  We took a nap together, with the warm sun streaming in the window
onto us.  Then my daughter and I took him to Dr. Turner.
 
We kissed and cuddled him, and I held him while he quietly slipped away.
His body was buried under the redbud tree in the backyard.  Crocuses bloom
there in the spring.
 
It seems so unfair that Cadbury never had a chance for a happy life.
 
Linda Iroff
Raisin Retreat Ferret Shelter
Oberlin, OH
http://www.oberlin.edu/~liroff/ncfs.html
[Posted in FML issue 2549]