It's hard to believe that so much time has passed that I thought an
update was in order.  Some of you may remember Spaz, a ferret that came
to our home nearly three years ago that had a rare form of cutaneous
lymphosarcoma.  Spaz had undergone many surgeries since we adopted him
including a number of attempts to remove the main area of the cancer on
his side, mast cell tumor removals, teeth removed, and a left
adrenalectomy.  Even our vet jokes that he is the most expensive ferret
he knows.  Well, after we had the left adrenal gland removed, it looked
like the right one went shortly thereafter and our fuzzy little ball of
fur became our lovable little naked mole man.
 
Spaz has gone through some difficult times... his front paws started
swelling, and getting red and scabbed.  We feared the worst for him as
his feet did not improve with topical ointments and steroids.  At one
point I wondered if we were going to have to amputate his front foot,
but thankfully it did not become an option.  Even if it did, it was not
something I thought I could go through with because of his age and how
unsteady he had become on all fours.  I attempted to make him boots to
make him more comfortable, but anyone who has ever tried this knows how
successful that venture ended up.  There seemed to be times when he would
improve overall, only to slide back down again.  We thought that last
year we would lose him... In October last year, we took him to the
Blessing of the Animals ceremony along with three other oldsters and had
him blessed for what we thought would be his last time...
 
It was difficult to know what was the best thing we could do for him.
He already had so many surgeries... would it be fair to put him through
another?  We wanted to give him a chance at having a normal life.  We
pondered cryosurgery and making a day of it with other ferrets who needed
the surgery.  But having his right adrenal gland could be very risky for
him in any case.  Sure, he might grow back his hair, which is one of the
main reasons I wanted the surgery (so he could be free of scabs on his
naked body and be more comfortable) but he did not recover well the last
time he went through the procedure.  We almost lost him then.  The
decision was heart wrenching as we pondered back and forth what course of
action to take.  Finally, a decision was made... Spaz would not have to
be put through another surgery again.  We chose to try Lupron injections
and I can tell you that we couldn't be happier at the results.
 
Spaz never did grow back any hair, but a side effect of the Lupron
changed his world in another way.  Spaz's feet, which looked sore and
painful, became normal looking, pink and soft.  His body, which was
ravaged by sores and scabs, began to heal and soften up again.  His
nails, which had not grown in a year finally needed a trimming.  His
transformation was amazing.  Our little boy, whom we thought we would
lose almost a year ago is still alive and kicking.  He maintains a great
weight now.  He has no real control of his bowels, (as witnessed by his 5
foot long trails of poop and pee) and his gait is unsteady, but he loves
to be cuddled and purposefully comes around to find you and begs to be
picked up.  He has off and on again eye infections which we control with
the use of ointments, and every now and again, we have to bath him
because he has fallen in his own poop.  He continues to love to be
scratched at the back of his head, down his neck and back, and the backs
of his scrawny little chicken legs... legs we just love to kiss.
 
The other ferrets just seem to know that he is not well, and so they tend
to leave him alone.  Every now and again we do hear his little bird like
cries as he gets owly that someone has come to his bed to cuddle up with
him, but he quickly settles down and enjoys the company.
 
He is our Spazzy, our Spazmeister, our Spazman, and our 10+ year old
little Naked Mole Man.  He is our boy and we feel so blessed to still
have him with us.  We took him again to the Blessing of the Animals again
this year with three new companions.  And hubby and I were blessed along
with them all.
 
And we have been so blessed. Thank you Spaz.
 
betty and her blur O'fur
for the love of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 3930]