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Subject:
From:
Bill Guigue <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
The Ferret Mailing List (FML)
Date:
Tue, 18 Feb 1992 07:35:33 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (78 lines)
     I have not contributed very much to the Ferret Mailing list in
     the past.  I have been reading the mailing list for quite some
     time though.  I find the mailing list quite insightful and
     useful.  I want to contribute a story about my beautiful
     sterling silver ferret whose name was Wolfe.  Wolfe came to
     me as an orphan through the The Ottawa Ferret Association
     which I am an active member of.  I brought him home in
     November 1990.  He had a pointy nose and kept my husband
     and I entertained with his funny gestures.  He loves coffee
     and as soon as a cup of coffee would get cold enough he
     would stick his whole face up to his ears into it, only
     to come out brown and spray coffee everywhere.  He was
     always very active and always chatted away.  The story has
     a bit of a sad ending to it.
     On December 15, 1991 we were about to get ready to go out
     when I noticed that Wolfe seemed to have trouble keeping
     his balance, and he was falling over while trying to get
     across a room.  We were quite concerned and called our
     vet right away.  We took Wolfe out to see the vet.  He
     was diagnosed with vestibular disease.  It is an inner
     ear infection which effects balance.  Wolfe was given
     two kinds of medication to try to correct the problem.
     We were told that the headtilt could possible stay
     for the rest of his life.  Wolfe regai
     and his headtilt was minimal.  We thought he was going
     to be okay.  However on January 24, 1992, we noticed
     that he seemed to be losing his balance once again.
     I called the vet right away and set up an appointment
     for the next morning.  When we took Wolfe to the vet he was
     given two types of medication for a longer period of time
     in stronger doses.  The vet suggested that if Wolfe did not
     improve we may wish to think about putting him to sleep
     because he would become a danger to himself and likely
     end up falling and hurting himself.  They had also x-rayed
     his skull to make sure that there was nothing wrong with
     his brain.  We once again took Wolfe home and gave him
     his medicine.  However by the early morning of January 27
     Wolfe was almost totally paralyzed on his left side.  He
     could not get up to get food or water.  He was helpless.
     He could not even chew food.  We again took him to the
     vet who told us that he was not going to get any better if
     the medicine hadn't helped yet.  He stated that the only
     right thing to do was to put him to sleep.  As sad as that
     thought was, we knew that it had to be done.  Wolfe had
     become toatally helpless and would likely totally starve
     in the long run.  We agreed to put him down, through many
     tears I might add.  I guess I am writing this story for a
     couple of reasons.  The first is to let everyone know how
     brave my beautiful Wolfe was, and the second to make
     everyone aware of how serious inner ear infections can
     be.  Apparently they are very common in cats and rabbits
     and usually require euthanasia.  It seems the same can
     now be said for ferrets.  We love our ferrets very much,
     they are our children.  The healing process has been quite
     long and painful.  I wanted to ask a question though and that
     is are sterling silvers more likely to get ill at an earlier
     age?  Are they a weaker breed for some reason?  The reason
     that I ask is that we had a sterling silver once who died
     very suddenly for medical reasons at age eight months and
     now Wolfe is dead at age one and a half.  I have a five year
     old sable and a six year old albino, both are as healthy as
     can be, but I honestly have never had any luck with sterling
     silvers and I am quite reluctant to get another one because
     it hurts too much to lose them.  I would be interested in
     any information anyone has on this as well as vestibular
     disease.  Thank You for hearing my story.
 
[Our Silver Mitt, Toby, died at 10 months of lymphosarcoma.
He also had two sets of scent glands.  Colours other than
sable or albino are frequently the result of long intensive
breeding programs, which just *might* accentuate some usually
rare genetic problems.  Who knows?]
 
     Lesley Guigue
     Ottawa Ferret Association
 
[Posted in FML issue 0214]

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