Last Tuesday I noticed that my little Nippers had a slightly swollen arm.
So when I took my 3 older girls to the vet for test on their blood sugar I
took her along as well.  The vet nor I could find any indication of injury.
The next day her arm was huge and there were 2 sets of double puncture
wounds - a typical centipede sting.  We put her on antibiotics and over
night the swelling went down and she seemed all better.
 
On Thursday she seemed to be tired.  So I took her back to the vet with me
on Friday.  We couldn't figure out what to do.  She did not want to eat
Saturday morning and I force feed her Saturday night (she was a little pig
and always insisted on getting Duck Soup with the older girls).  She was
running a fever and I took her to bed with me so I could keep an eye on
her.  At around 12:00 I noticed her gums started bleeding.  At about 1:30
am her breathing became labored and she slipped away.  She was 6 1/2 years
old and had been in excellent health.
 
I had to know what happened so I asked the vet to do a necropsy.  She found
an enlarged but healthy spleen, no problems with the pancreas, or adrenal
glands.  Her stomach was full of air and her lungs were collasped.  Her
entire abdominal cavity was full of blood.  It appeared that she bled to
death internally.  It is our best guess that it was due to the centipede
stings.
 
Nippers was a wonderfully little girl, who would bite the heck out of you
if you ignored her.  It took about 4 years to get her to figure out that
scatching your leg worked just as well.
 
She will be joining her brother Tyrone at the Rainbow Bridge.
 
Someone wrote a while back about people owning more than 2 ferrets - I
started out with two Odie and Milo (Odie at 8 1/2 is still with me), and
just couldn't stand to see the little guys in pet stores or not being cared
for correctly.  So at my peak I had 18.  Now I only have 7 and my house
feels empty.  Because I live in the Virgin Islands and have worked hard to
get the pet stores from bringing any more in (animal abuse is wide spread
here), there are very few on the island and at least all those I know of
are well cared for.  Eventually I will bring some more down from a shelter
in the states.  Especially now that we have a vet with a little ferret
knowledge down here.  Since I can afford them and have room I want to give
as many ferrets a good home as I can.
 
As with all my little ones who have slipped over the bridge Nippers will be
greatly missed by me and her ferret family.
 
Amy and her 7 fur snakes and 13 fur angels
 
I couldn't s
[Posted in FML issue 2596]