From:
"Larry McFarlane"
Date: 2002-12-19 01:37:21 UTC
Subject: Alix and Gandalf
To: "Ferret Health List" <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <00dd01c2a6ff$2d5df9c0$6b142904@dslverizon.net>
Thanks Dr. Williams, for your answer on Alix. The vet amputated the tip of=
her tail today. It had turned black, and he felt it was an infarction. S=
o now we're medicating her with Neosporin ointment. She's also developed i=
nsulinoma, and he said a touch of pancreatitis.
I lost my 8 month old deaf boy, Gandalf, this morning. Gandalf had been in=
a pet store back in May, 5 1/2 weeks old almost dead from the flu and inco=
rrect medicating. I brought him home, pulled him through. He weighed 4 1/=
2 pounds. We'd noticed that he'd pant off and on when playing or running, =
would lay down. I contributed that to his size-he was truly an arm full of=
ferret. My great nephew was playing with him about 2 weeks ago, and Ganda=
lf suddenly didn't act right-he laid down, didn't want to move. Took him t=
o the vet and he thought it was the flu-Gandalf had the runs. So we medica=
ted him with antibiotics, gave him carafate to help coat his stomach. He g=
ot better, then this past Sunday Travis was here, played with him again, ag=
ain he went down. Only he kept seeming depressed, not wanting to do anythi=
ng. Last night I carried him downstairs, and he just didn't want to do any=
thing. He was content to lay on my chest, put his big, beautiful head on m=
y shoulder. He wanted down, went to a sheet that we keep down for them and=
laid in it. We could hear his labored breathing clear across the room. I=
took him upstairs and listened through a stethoscope, couldn't hear fluid =
in the lungs but his heart was racing so bad. Sometime between 10:30 pm an=
d 4:45 am he left me. The vet did the necropsy and Gandalf's left lung was=
non-existent. It was a solid tumor, metastasized, no lung tissue left. I=
t was so large it filled his chest cavity, pushing the heart to the side. =
The right lung was under-developed. He felt that Gandalf threw an embolism=
and had a heart attack, and that's what took him. He told me there was no=
way I could have known this at all.
Rebecca
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy, and taste g=
ood with ketchup"
"Support bacteria, it's the only culture some people have"