Message Number: SG5934 | New FHL Archives SearchFrom: "scruffyou"
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 15:50:30 -0400
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Subject: RinkyDink July 1998 to September 7 2003
Message-ID: <002201c3718b$774ddc10$24bf1a42@GodsBox>
Ferret Lovers,
My RinkyDink was born to a breeding farm that shipped her off way too early=
. She did not know how to eat hard food yet. When she arrived at the pet =
store, they did not feed her soft, wet kibble, just hard dry kibble. Rinky=
Dink did not know what that was, what it was for or that it was food.
When I saw RinkyDink in the store, I thought she was the most beautiful fer=
ret I had ever seen. She looked like a miniature siamese kitten and she wa=
s tiny. I picked her up and she bit the heck out of me. I thought she was=
scared and very fiesty and I bought her. =
I took her home and gave her the same food the store had given her. I was=
not very experienced with ferrets and I did not know she was in trouble. =
=
I noticed she was not eating that afternoon. I called the pet store and as=
ked if she had been eating there. They assured me she had. More time went=
by and by the next morning, RinkyDink was almost comatose. In desperation=
I got her to eat some bread and milk, I took her to a vet directly after a=
nd they told me about kmr (kitten replacement formula). =
RinkyDink recovered, was weaned and everything appeared normal but damage t=
o her intestinal tract and immune system had been done and it was lurking. =
=
RinkyDink grew into a beautiful light chocholate/champagne jill. She had a=
very gentle and loving personality and she loved to be around people. She=
was the ferret I chose to interact with the public when doing Trifl activi=
ties. When she was around 7 months old we attended RenFaire. =
RinkyDink caught the flu at the fair and things were never the same after t=
hat. Her health continued to decline and she wasted away before my eyes. =
We made many many trips to emergency vets more than 3 hours away. And regu=
lar vet visits. We spent the next 3 months trying to get her diagnosed. F=
inaly an exploratory was performed because of slow gut transit on a barium =
study. Biopsies were taken and it was finaly discovered RinkyDink had eosi=
niphilic gastro entreites. Basicly she was allergic to food caused by the =
damage done at the beginning of her life.
We began pred therapy and switched her diet to exclude corn. That worked w=
ell until she got a distemper shot. The shot triggered her immune system a=
gain and I almost lost her again. We spent another 4 months feeding every =
3 to 4 hours and fighting the disease tooth and nail. We found a wonderful=
vet who helped RinkyDink a lot. I credit her for the years RinkyDink got =
to live after that. She was highly allergic and had to be on a hypo allerg=
enic diet and dex therapy.
We spent the next 2 and a half years loving life. RinkyDink would snuggle =
into my chest before her ham soup (allergic to chicken) and meds. She love=
d a snoman santa clause, a sisal ball and a sisal fish. These toys had to =
be in exactly the right place and they were the first things she checked on=
after eating. She loved to finger wrestle and war dance. She was a happy=
little ferret.
When her dex script needed to be refilled we did a cbc. It was discovered =
that she had a low white blood cell count. About a month later RinkyDink g=
ot what I thought was an upper respitory infection. We immediately went to=
an emergency vet and we got her started on clavamox right away.
RinkyDink was still sneezing with enough violence to cause a nosebleed 2 da=
ys later and we went to the local vet for a stronger antibiotic. She was s=
tarted on baytril along with the clavamox. But even with cold medicine she=
had a stuffy nose. It never really cleared.
One nite while I went to church, my husband medicated the ferrets, includin=
g RinkyDink. RinkyDink had a weird reaction to the baytril or so we though=
t. She lost control of the upper part of her body. A friend researched ba=
ytril toxiticy for me and the symptoms sounded the same. This was a holida=
y weekend and no vet available. The research indicated if the baytril was =
stopped the problem would resolve itself with no damage. I stopped the bay=
tril and there was enough improvement to suggest this was the right descisi=
on. Last nite, one day later, RinkyDink took a nose dive downhill. She lo=
st her appetite for the first time thru this ordeal. Her right nostril ble=
d a little. A little after 1 am she threw up some clear liquid and seemed =
much better. She even ate some ham soup for me then fell into what seemed =
a peaceful sleep. I determined to go to the vet first thing in the am to g=
et a cbc and chem panel done but at 7:07 am RinkyDink took her last breath.=
RinkyDink fought her disease with a strength and grace few humans ever exhi=
bit. She was gentle and strong and fragile and I loved her with all my hea=
rt. Right now I am broken but I am also very angry. RinkyDink's life did =
not have to end like this!! It did not have to begin the way it did to app=
ease human greed and indifference.
Karen and the Scruff You Gang
Send comments to Pam at pjdutche@email.unc.edu. Please note that this address is only useful for questions about the FHL archive. Questions about ferret health, or those intended for the FHL, should be sent to the Ferret Health List.