After some discussion between members, and one very generous offer from our club treasurer, Pam Sessoms, the Triangle Ferret Lovers decided to go ahead and have a necropsy done on the little baby Solstice, who died so suddenly on the night she was named after. A couple of calls to the family who had passed her on to us, pretty much told us that they didn't care what happened to her now, but we were all very concerned that this might have been something contagious, something that the other kits in the pet store where she came from, might also have and could be spreading to other fuzzies in the area. By the way, it has been confirmed that Solstice was sold by Pet Depot in Burlington, North Carolina. Dr. Alan Feimster of the Animal Emergency clinic in Cary North Carolina, who is nothing less than a stellar guy in my book, called me in reply to the message I left on the clinic answering machine and I explained our thoughts and what we wanted to do. Not only did he say that he would do the gross exam and do all he could to help us out, he offered us a substantial discount on the procedure. I told him to get back to me when he knew something, and expected not to hear anything until after the holidays, after all this was Christmas Eve. Around seven in the evening Dr. Feimster called back again with his findings. Although he could not find the cause, as the poor dear was now a couple of days post-mortem, Solstice died of a massive internal infection. By the time she came to us she was very septic, most likely in shock, and unfortunately there was nothing anyone could have done at that point. Her entire chest cavity was filled with pus, and Dr. Feimster said that it was the kind of thing that you see from a wound that is left to go untreated or some kind of puncture. From what he could tell there was some kind of trauma around her head and neck area. The crust in and around her nose was a result of the infection that had spread to her lungs added to her respiratory distress. The question now is: Why didn't the people at Pet Depot see this? She was obviously very sick for probably as long as she had been there. Did this happen in transit from Marshall's? In transit from the distributor? While at Pet Depot? Had someone taken the time at any of those points to notice her breathing wasn't right, that she was lethargic and not acting well and taken steps, antibiotics probably could have stopped the infection and she wouldn't have had to die. Why did the family buy her when she must have been very sick when they picked her out? The only thing we can think of, was that she was sleeping and they picked her because she looked oh so cute, all curled up in a ball. Our next move is to visit Pet Depot in Burlington to see what the conditions are, if they have more kits and if they are healthy. To find out where the ball was dropped. We realize that being diplomatic and polite in these first stages is crucial to getting Pet Depot to co-operate, I just hope we can get to the bottom of this, or at the very least try and educate the people there to know what to look for and what to do if they have other kits who are sick. We're hoping that at least little Solstice didn't die in vain, that she will help educate and improve the lives of other pet store kits, here and everywhere. We Hope...we really do. Robynn McCarthy Triangle Ferret Lovers [Posted in FML issue 2909]