From:
Judy McElearney
Date: 2004-08-03 15:12:52 UTC
Subject: Regarding "Biter"
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <410FAB74.9070607@cableone.net>
My bf and I have been unofficially rescuing ferrets for about 5 yrs.
Last year we took in an 8 yr. old ferret after his owner threatened to
drown him (and drove 6 hours -each way- to pick him up.) Bear was
described by his previous owner as "a biter." Turned out that Bear was
a very big boy and she was picking him up by just grabbing his neck....
not scruffing, supporting his posterior, nothing other than just
grabbing in a choke hold. He had a very big bottom. Bear also had a
spinal injury that was quite painful for him. We quickly learned to
scoop him up and the biting stopped. (This worked best if his head was
towards the crook of your elbow as he was used to biting
hands/fingers.) But if you approached him with your hands open in a
manner which he thought showed you would be grabbing him, he would react
by biting. It is a possibility that the way you are picking your
fur-baby up frightens her or is painful for her and the "scoop" method
might help.
Sadly, Bear was only with us for 3 months. When we took him in, we were
told he was adrenal and had been on Lupron for several years. That was
the stated reason for giving him up or killing him... she couldn't
afford the vet bills. Even though we were told his vet records would
come with him, they were not provided... but the vet's name and addy
was. We immediately contacted the vet and were faxed his records. Poor
Bear hadn't been seen in over a year. He wasn't peeing like our other
ferrets (we thought this was due to old age.) We already had an
appointment for him to see our vet for a physical and his next Lupron
shot... the doc discovered that his prostrate was enlarged and blocking
his urethra. His bladder was drained and Lupron provided, but the
damage was already done. A short time later we had to help Bear cross
the Rainbow Bridge because he was in total kidney failure. It's been a
year and I still cry for him. We gave him the best care we could based
on the info given us, but there was absolutely no reason for him to
suffer as he did.
We have just started the process of getting PFSN certified as an
official foster/forever home. Hopefully "Warm Fuzzies" will be
operating soon. There are 2 PFSN certified shelters in our area, which
is why we are only going for foster certification. According to those
shelters, we have an excellent ferret vet. I love that my ferret vet
gave me all his contact info so that I can reach him with questions at
any time. I had one question that he didn't immediately know the answer
to, but he contacted a vet school friend that specializes in exotics and
got the needed info right away.
Kelgram1