Message Number: SG5934 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "scruffyou"
Date: 2003-09-02 19:50:30 UTC
Subject: RinkyDink July 1998 to September 7 2003
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
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