From:
Ellen List
Date: 2004-07-24 01:28:56 UTC
Subject: update to 9673
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <BD273398.5430%ejlist@adelphia.net>
G died today, 7-23-04 at 10:22 a.m.
We had a terrible night.
I stayed up with him all night. He became incontinent, was panting and
thrashing about. His uncontrollable movements became more erratic as the
night progressed. Around 1:00 a.m. his gums started bleeding somewhat. His
mouth seemed awful dry, especially after he went through a panting episode,
so I syringed a drop or two of water and this seemed to both calm and please
him. Throughout the night he became upset when he lost control of his
bladder and bowels so I re-wrapped him in clean towels as needed and held
him close. At 6 a.m. he fell asleep, so did I. At 8:00 I awoke--he was
having a seizure. We left immediately for the vets, an hour away. It was
a horrible trip. I felt so helpless. By the time we arrived at the vets he
had chewed most of his hind quarters to bleeding. An anesthetic was
administered to stop the pain and G quietly died in my arms.
I miss him terribly. He was the most gentle ferret. A cuddler. He loved
to sleep on my lap, chest or in my arms. He never did anything wrong. He
never stole anything--his affection was directed at me, not things. He was
100% litter trained--always wanting to please. He could be completely
trusted with infants and he entertained them to outbursts of laughter.
Although G had been grossly abused before I rescued him, he never lashed out
at anyone or anything in anger, not even the day I rescued him when he was
horribly emaciated and frantic with starvation and thirst. He had been
abused in other ways too, and he remembered it. If he was unaware of my
presence and my hand brushed against his side he would jump, fear flashing
over his face. But even then, he never opened his mouth to protect
himself--he simply jumped away.
After I rescued him, he never let me out of his sight. He was forever
tangled around my legs when I moved about the house because he never wanted
to be more than 2 feet away from me.
"G" originally stood for Grandpa because we thought he was old. When
several vets said he couldn't be more than 1 1/2, we called him G-man or
Giani. I had him for 11 months--not long enough. A part of me died last
night when he suffered once more, and I couldn't do anything about it.
Ellen