From:
rezgrrl@netzero.com
Date: 2005-04-01 17:19:52 UTC
Subject: Cookie's ruptured cornea
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <7397886.1112375992130.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
My little old lady (7 and a half) has--I forget what the vet called it, but she described it as a scratched or ruptured cornea. It seems to be trying to scar over, as there is a faint cloudy line in that eye. (At first I thought she just had a cold, and that this was "eye snot," which was also accumulating in the corner of her eyes.) The vet tells me it's very painful, and Cookie does whimper occasionally and is a little more clingy, though she still eats and explores. The vet gave me a triple antibiotic ointment--neomycin, polymycin 8 sulfate, and bacitracin zinc in what seems like a petroleum base.
Anyway, the vet also says that if the eye doesn't get better, they would ordinarily (with cats or dogs) have to remove the eye, but that because Cookie is so old, her advice would be to euthanize her. I can't tell whether it is getting better. Sometimes it seems better, sometimes worse, so I guess I alternate between fear and wishful thinking. She goes for a recheck next week, but I'd like to go in with information, just in case. (This isn't my ferret vet, just the local one.)
Cookie's a healthy thing despite her age--she had adrenal surgery years ago, and then suffered from a scary bout of depression when her friend died a couple of years ago, but she's been fine for some time now. She's about 25 ounces, so not too tiny, either. She'd also do well with one eye--she's already deaf, and not seeing out of that eye, and it hasn't slowed her down. Would she really have to die over a scratched eyeball? That just doesn't seem fair.
(BTW, she started out as a grayish brown blaze, and looked like a little oreo cookie. Then she got a white winter coat in her 2nd year and just stayed white. Is this common?)