From:
Stephanie
Date: 2001-09-03 06:13:00 UTC
Subject: Questions re: death by heat
Hi All,
Since I have been asking so many questions about Icabod and Emeline, my two
sickest ferrets, I felt the need to ask one last question regarding their
recent death. Sometime on Friday, both died curled up together on their
hammock. The worst part was that I was away from home and they were at the
sitter's.
My question/situation is as follows. My sitter, a vet tech (so she is pretty
knowledgeable regarding ferrets), had them in their large carrier which we
use for a cage when they are babysat. It was a cloudy day (it had been
raining the day and night before) and she put the carrier on the window sill
so they could look out and not be so bored. She had a busy day at the
hospital and was unable to get outside, so she is unsure if it cleared up
and/or got hot. When she came home she went to wake them, but found they
were not breathing. She is profoundly upset and is taking care of the
cremation which I told her I want to pay for. She feels really bad and I
have tried to tell her that it was not her fault as they were so very ill as
it was (Emeline had lymphoma, Icabod had cardio and they both had insulinoma
and adrenal). I also told her that it didn't sound like heat since they were
all snuggled together on the hammock. She said they just looked like they
were sleeping. If they were hot they would have been sprawled out on the
bottom of the cage and not snuggling since that would make them hotter.
Am I correct in assuming that it probably was not heat? Emeline was
incredibly attached to Icabod and I have always felt that she would die with
him when he went. Since I was not there and did not get to see them before
they were taken to be cremated, I feel the need to figure out what happened
to get a sense of closure.
Thanks for any and all insight on the above situation.
Hold your fuzzies tight and give them lots of kisses,
Stephanie
with Maggie, Bullwinkle, Shasta, Apollo and Caliccio (part of my trip was to
pick up the latest two - Apollo and Caliccio)
missing Icabod and Emeline