Today we took George to Dr. Murphy's & helped him to the Bridge.
 
All day yesterday he was so very good as when he had to use the litter box
he tried his best to get there, even when it meant pulling himself along by
his front feet.  Even last night when he was worse he tried to get to the
litter box.  I supported his body with my hands & he showed me where he
wanted to go with his front feet.  He was unhappy & embarrassed when he wet
or pooped on himself.  Yesterday he couldn't keep his body warm so he was
often held & rubbed to get him warm.  We knew it was time to let him go.
 
George came to live with me when I had a notice up in Pet Supermarket that
I would give any unwanted ferret a good home.  He was the first boy.  He
was a sort of odd color as he was a silver mitt but had butterscotch
splotches on his body & a creamy colored tail & looked beautiful.  His
folks were in the military & were transferred to CA.  Not willing to risk
his life as they would be living on a military base, they wanted a good
home for him.  After a telephone interview Jennine & John decided that he
would do good here.  He had been with a sweet girl Louise, who died of
cancer & he had been alone for awhile.  He use to love to get into John's
coke when he'd forget & leave the glass where George could get to it.  He
loved the remote control so much that they finally bought him his own. *s*
He had a squeaky ball that he wanted to tear apart & kill but was happy to
just try to bury it.  Whenever I couldn't get him to come out of wherever
he was all I had to do was squeeze the ball & he'd come barreling out &
attack it.  I always let him have the satisfaction of "killing" it so it
stopped squeaking.
 
Within 3 months after being here he had emergency surgery to remove his
spleen.  I was very quickly initiated into post surgery care of ferrets.
Thanks to the wonderful people on this list I was given many ideas about
duck soup & weaning him back to regular food.  He thought Bob's Chicken was
the best thing to come along, well next to the heavy whipping cream he had
with his duck soup. *s*
 
He was the only guy amongst 6 girls until Bart came along & he had someone
to talk "guy" talk with.  I'm sure he will be looking for his "Louise" at
the Bridge, the two of them will have a lot to get caught up on.  He is
already greatly missed but we know it was for the best.  I know his other
"mom" in CA has been crying her heart out for him, as she couldn't say
goodbye a final time.  Her name is Jennine, please include her in any kind
thoughts of George.  He was "Our George".
 
Sota has started to improve, as his red blood count is going up.  The way
I understand it he is suppose to have a count of 45.  His went down to 13
but now is up to 18.  So it looks now that it isn't bone marrow cancer but
"Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia", which Dr. Murphy said hasn't been documented
in ferrets.  His system has turned on itself & is destroying the red cells.
He is getting some sort of injections & has started to respond.  (sorry I
can't be more specific but my mind was on George) But since he is more or
less "breaking new ground" we are not going to know how well he will do.
He could go back downhill tomorrow, although we are sure praying he will
continue upward.  If there are any veterinarians out there that have seen
this before in ferrets could you please send me any info on treatments,
good & bad results?  Short & long term?
 
Thank you all who were kind enough to send prayers & healing thoughts for
George & Sota. Especially those who have just recently lost babies of their
own.  You have to be the best people in the world!
 
Lynn & Clan War Weasels
[Posted in FML issue 3018]