Aren't these things supposed to come in three's?!

You know, next time a novice ferret owner decides to give in to the lure of "ferret math", they should be shown my picture as a warning! I'm by no means a collector (only 5 ferrets now, 7 at the peak), but I didn't think about three or four years into the future when I first started getting them. When they get older, they get sick, and now all of mine are getting the usual ferret issues at the same age.

What has happened, you ask?

Well, after the disastrous month of March, I thought for sure that things would calm down. Bad things come in three's after all, right? Wrong. Jebabba is now having digestive issues. Towards the beginning of the month he started acting listless, having very small diarrhea like poops, and actually threw up a couple times. It was mostly white foam. My first panicked thought was hairball, so I started giving him laxative and feeding him throughout the day (Gerber's Chicken & Chicken Gravy Baby Food). He did better almost immediately, and while his appetite and activity level went back up to normal, he was still having weird poops. So I take him to the vet - he's at just under 2 lbs. Now he's never been a large ferret (he's one of my whippet guys), but he always was just a little over 2 lbs.

We've put him on an antibiotic (Amoxi) and Carafate to help him digest, and while he feels a little heavier, he's still having the strange poops. I'm concerned that it might be IBD, but there is no test one can do for that. The only definitive way to diagnose is through a biopsy, either surgical or via endoscopy. I may take him down to Horsham at the beginning of May to see what Dr. Edling thinks.

But that isn't all the happened...Cheeba had a hypoglycemic episode last week. I had just finished bathing the ferrets, and instead of doing his crazy drying off dance, he just stood there swaying. Then his butt fell over. I just about had a heart attack, as he hadn't shown any symptoms of insulinoma to this point.

I rushed him downstairs in the hopes that it might just be too warm up in the bathroom for him. He didn't get any better, so I rubbed some Karo syrup on his gums. That didn't help, so I rubbed some maple syrup on his gums, and that brought him out of it. About 20 minutes later I fed him some baby food. His appetite was good, and he scarfed down the whole jar of it. Took him to the vet the next day, and his BG level (without fasting) was 60. So needless to say, he's now on Prednisolone too. Thankfully he's already used to getting duck soup twice a day, so at least I don't have to fight him over that!

He's also on Cematadine (sic?), which is Tagamet, to hopefully head off any ulcer problems before they start. Pred can cause ulcers, and in a ferret as prone to ulcers as Cheeba is, this is a real concern. Unfortunately he hates it almost as bad as he hated the Metronidazole. He hasn't peed on me yet, but he did foam at the mouth and make the "this tastes horrible and it's killing me" face. I tried mixing it in with the duck soup, and that made him not eat the duck soup. So I figured it was more important for him to eat the soup than it was to get the medicine in him. He always gets the Pred after a meal, and I give him a baby food snack before I go to bed, so I think he's ok.

So now I have:

• One ferret with insulinoma and recurring ulcers - Cheeba
• One ferret with adrenal disease w/ prostate complications - Mojo
• One ferret with insulinoma and adrenal - Sophie
• One ferret with undiagnosed digestive issues - Jebabba

And....(drum roll please) ONE HEALTHY FERRET - BONK!! Of course, I probably just jinxed myself. At 2 1/2 yrs old, he's about at the age where things are going to start happening.

Anyway, to sum up this long, rambling post (cute pictures next time, I promise), don't forget that ferrets get ill in their old age! Someday you will have gigantic vet bills!



The ferret tip of the day is always plan for the future! As I mentioned above, they will get sick, and possibly all at the same time if they're close in age. If I hadn't planned for this (prepared mentally, no - monetarily, yes), the ferrets wouldn't have been able to receive the care they needed. So remember when you see that cute baby ferret at the pet store and you just can't resist adding it to your group at home - someday that baby ferret will get older, and it will get ill. If you have 4 or more ferrets, and they are all ill at the same time, will you be able to handle it? Think carefully before adding more ferrets!

Tags

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ferret, ferrets, Ferret Math, Insulinoma, Adrenal Disease, Ulcers, Hairballs, Ferret Tips

Sandee Greets Smoke

This is a beautiful Rainbow Bridge greeting written by Sandee Ferret of the FML. For those of you who don't know about the FML, it's the "Ferret Mailing List", and a great source of information and help for ferret owners. To subscribe to the FML, email ferret-request@cunyvm.cuny.edu.

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Sandee Greets Smoke

I had mixed feelings about greeting my new arrival this morning. It's not that I didn't want to greet him. I like my job, and try to do my best to make the transition from the Hoomin world to the Bridge as smooth and as compassionate as possible. But I didn't know quite how to feel about this morning's greeting. Oh, I know - I'm not making any sense. Maybe there's a better way to explain it.

I talked to the Boss yesterday about my new arrival. His name is Smoke. The Boss described Smoke as a very handsome DEW fuzzy. He had lived fairly long as fuzzies go, but as with all fuzzies and their hoomins, it never seemed long enough. The Boss explained further.

Smoke had a very rocky start to his life in the Hoomin world. As most fuzzies, his life started in a pet store. But while most of the other kits he had started out with had eventually found hoomin families, Smoke was left behind. He went from pet store to pet store for the first year of his life. Hoomins came and went, and some teased and taunted him, but none of them ever took Smoke home to look out for him. Pretty soon he learned not to trust hoomins. He was on his own.

When the Boss told me this part, a slight scowl formed on his face, but he closed his eyes, swallowed a bit, and continued.

Kristen and Steve had a friend who worked at the pet store that Smoke was last sent to, and he brought Smoke home to them. They became his first and only mom and dad, but it was not an easy task. Smoke was a biter, a habit he had acquired from living in so many different pet stores as a kit. He never knew who to trust, so he bit everyone.

The Boss stopped his story for just a moment, started to smirk, then with a semi-straight face he continued.

Both Kristen and Steve worked hard to teach Smoke that he didn't have to bite, and it wasn't easy. One time, Smoke bit Steve on the skin between his nostrils and wouldn't let go! Steve - not wanting to hurt Smoke, but very much in pain - jumped into the shower with Smoke in hopes that he would let go. Smoke had never been wet before and it had startled him, so he let go of Steve's nostrils, but not before he let out a blood-curdling scream!

(Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this, but when the Boss told me this part he was laughing so hard he could barely get the words out. Steve, if you're listening, I'm sure the Boss didn't mean to laugh)

The Boss explained that while Smoke's life had started out rough, it had taken a very good turn, and much of that had to do with Smoke's cagemate, Rascal. Nobody ever really knows why two fuzzies form such strong bonds, but sometimes they do. Smoke and Rascal had formed such a bond, and it was strong indeed. Kristen and Steve tried to introduce other fuzzies to Smoke, but Smoke had had enough of the way fuzzies come and go in pet stores, and he would have none of it. As Smoke's mom used to say, he was a "one-fuzzy kind of guy." For some reason, the only fuzzy
he trusted was Rascal.

The Boss stopped for a second. I looked at the twinkle in his eye. I began to suspect that maybe the Boss might have had something more to do with this than it seemed, but he continued before I was able to interrupt and ask him.

The Boss told me that many times he had watched Smoke try to steal socks. Now, for a fuzzy, that was not so unusual, but often Smoke would try to steal them while there were still feet in them! The Boss tried hard not to laugh when he told me this, but he just couldn't help himself. One could tell by just listening to the Boss that he very much liked Smoke, maybe simply because he had made him laugh so hard so often! The Boss continued.

Rascal and Smoke spent the years together, and they very much enjoyed each other's company. But time passes, whether it be good or bad, and Rascal had to leave the Hoomin world to take his place at the Bridge.

Without Rascal, Smoke was just lost. He didn't get along with any other fuzzies, and he didn't know what to do with himself. He still stole socks, but he only did it for something to do. He still gave his mom and dad kisses, but spent most of his time moping around the house. Rascal, being just a bit older, had always looked out for Smoke, but now Smoke had no one to look out for him. He felt that it was his turn to look out for Rascal now, but he had no idea how. He spent time with Kristen and Steve, and he still gave them gentle kisses, but a huge part of him was missing.

Smoke roamed the family room, sometimes pretending to play, but mostly looking for Rascal, hoping he would come back. More and more of his time was spent sleeping. While Smoke used to weigh over five pounds as a young fuzzy, his weight dropped until he was a mere two pounds. Kristen and Steve took him to the fuzzy doc, but the doc could find nothing wrong with him. Smoke just didn't want to eat any more. He didn't have the heart to do anything any more. He was just an old fuzzy, and all he wanted was to be where Rascal was, wherever that might have been. Sadly, a short year after Rascal left for the Bridge, Smoke left for there himself.

The Boss ended the story at this point. I couldn't help but wonder how to feel about Smoke coming to the Bridge. Should I feel bad for Smoke and the way that his life in the Hoomin world ended, or should I be glad that he was coming here to the Bridge to be with Rascal? There seemed to be no right way to feel about it. I started to ask the Boss which way was right, but I never got the words out. He told me that there was no way he could tell me which way was the right way to feel about things like this. I continued to think on it for a long time, but couldn't come
up with an answer. I did the only thing I could do; I left to go greet Smoke.

On my way to the Bridge, however, I was stopped by a familiar voice. It was Rascal! He asked me if he could come with me to the Bridge to see Smoke. I smiled and told him to come with me. I figured they had both waited long enough. Though we walked a normal speed for a bit, it wasn't long before Rascal was loping faster and faster. Pretty soon, it seemed we were war-dancing our way to the Bridge. The same time I noticed the Bridge in the distance, I also noticed that Rascal was no longer with me. Rascal had waited a long time to be able to look out for Smoke,
and nothing was going to stop him now! What could I do? I laughed out loud, and slowed down a bit, tired from walking so fast. No use to hurry.

When I got to the Bridge, Rascal and Smoke were tumbling with each other on the ground. They dooked and chucked making excited fuzzy sounds, all the while their noses deep in each other's fur. They breathed in each other's scent in as if it the scent itself was a long, lost friend. To the both of them, I wasn't even there. There was really nothing for me to do. I decided that Smoke was getting a way better greeting than I could give him, so I left them both at the Bridge. There would be time enough for all the formalities later.

The Boss was right. There was no way to know the right way to feel about this. I was sure that Kristen and Steve were hurting in the Hoomin world because they missed their special fuzzies, but I wondered how they would feel about things if they were able to see Rascal and Smoke together now. Would their hearts be so heavy if they saw Rascal and Smoke together the way that I had seen them? It was a hard thing to know. Maybe it was something that there was no answer to, or maybe the answer was in seeing Rascal and Smoke together again. I didn't know. I decided to make myself a pot of tea and think on it later. Later would be quite good enough.

Sandee

Tags

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ferret, ferrets, Lupron, Rainbow Bridge, FML, Ferret Mailing List, Sandee Ferret

Smoke Remembered

In the past week I've thought a lot about Smoke, about the things about him that made him so special to me. My heart has broken as I thought about how he'll never give me kisses anymore, and it's soared as I thought about how young and happy he must be now, playing up on the Rainbow Bridge with Rascal. But I'm finally to the point where I can write this memorial without breaking down. Smoke, I love you and I miss you. Dance on, little man.

Smoke first came into our lives in August 2000. He was back at a pet store for the second or third time, and he was at least a year old. He'd been at our local Petco for about 6 months, and the employees didn't know how to handle him. A friend's boyfriend worked there, and he brought Smoke home to us. Smoke was a horrible biter, and he had obviously never been socialized. He actually bit Steve on the thing between his nostrils once, and Steve had to turn the shower head on him to get him to let go. It was obvious that Smoke had never gotten wet before, as his scream was so loud it almost echoed through the apartment.

But with a little work and a lot of love, Smoke turned into a very sweet ferret. He loved Rascal, his cagemate, and he was very loyal to us. We always called him our "big dumb jock", because he wasn't very smart, but he was so lovable. He gave us kisses, especially Steve. He loved to lick Steve's goatee and groom him. He loved to play with Bella, the family dog. They would chase each other around the room for what seemed like hours, with Smoke hanging off her neck or her whirling around to bonk him on the head with her butt. She never hurt him, and he never attacked her.







As time went on, we tried to add other ferrets to the group, but Smoke was a one ferret kind of guy. He attacked any other ferrets he came in contact with, and just wanted to be with Rascal. He was an exuberant wardancer, bouncing around and making little hissing noises and dooks. He loved to steal and hide socks, whether or not their were feet in them! Sometimes I would take his sock stash and pile it in the middle of the floor. This would keep him busy for at least 20 minutes hiding them all again.

His favorite thing to sleep in when he was younger was a Super Pet Igloo. We would bring home all sorts of comfy bedding for them - sleep sacks, security cubes, blankets, but he always chose the Igloo. Even if it was laundry day and the igloo was briefly sitting on bare cage. After Rascal passed and Smoke started to slow down, he started to sleep in sleep sacks, but I would still occasionally find him in his igloo. Maybe it was for old times sake.

Before Rascal passed on, Smoke was a huge ferret. At his biggest, he was a little over 5 lbs. But after Rascal went at the age of 8 (when Smoke was 6), Smoke just seemed to lose something. He tried really hard, and he still hid socks and gave kisses. But his heart just wasn't in it. We moved him downstairs to be with us, and he improved a little. When he saw us walk by, he would bounce back and forth along the barrier, waiting for us to pick him up. When we did, he would snuggle into us and just enjoy the company. He had free roam of the family room, but he spent most of it just sleeping. Rascal always looked out for him, and we did our best to fill that void, but nothing could compare to Rascal.

I really thought that Smoke would be the ferret that made it to 10 or 12 year old. He was never sick a day in his life, and even at the end when he was down to only 2 lbs, he wasn't ill. He just wasn't...there anymore. We took him to the vet, and she just said that he was old and couldn't find anything specific wrong with him. He wouldn't eat duck soup or baby food. Almost a year after Rascal died, Smoke just wanted to move on, to be young and wild again, to be with Rascal and play again.

So we let him go.

This is my tribute to you, Smoke. To the scared little ferret that came to us 5 1/2 years ago. To the bouncing, energetic, playful boy that used to give the dog a run for her money and roll down the stairs, dooking all the way. To the sweet loving ferret that used to give us kisses and wanted nothing more than our love. To the honest ferret that was never spiteful and always true. To the old ferret, who was beautiful even in his passing. You brought something special into our lives, and it hurts now that it's gone.

But I will remember the good times - the cuddles, the kisses, the laughs. I will build a memorial in my heart as well as on this page, and you will be there with me always.

I love you, Smoke.

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ferret, ferrets, Smoke