From:
A M
Date: 2007-10-05 12:34:11 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Bear (heart/ kidney ferret in MD)
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hello, all.
Bear died at home last night, shortly after we had gotten home from work and had given him his evening food and meds. I'm fairly certain he died from heart failure at the end, as his breathing had been labored for the last 2 days and he wasn't responding to his meds as usual. He was not coughing, so I am pretty sure that he didn't have lung congestion. I think his heart just gave out. It also seemed his insulinoma had come back in the last 2 weeks; about a week ago, he had what I am fairly sure was a hypoglycemic "seizure", which responded to emergency corn syrup/water. (I suppose it may also have been a small heart attack. It's hard to tell... when they clamp their teeth together, it's hard to know if it's caused by pain or a seizure. Sigh.)
We will be giving his leftover digoxin, sucralafate, Enalapril, furosemide (Lasix), and glaucoma meds to the vet tech at the clinic in Abingdon, MD who runs a ferret rescue.
Sometimes, even when we do everything and beyond, the body just can't fix itself. I'd like to believe that we *can* fix everything if only we know enough, but I guess that's not the case. Bear had been diagnosed with heart problems back in March, and if you remember, he had also had a partial-pancretectomy 2 years ago (which caused the kidney damage in the hyperglycemic reaction afterwards.) Still, we have many many good memories of our little old man, who we are estimating was between 7 and 8.
When Pam Sessoms gave him to us back in 2001, he was a peppy young rescue who had been found when he walked up someone's driveway. He had a habit of dancing like a crazed weasel on the bed, especially after his cataracts developed. (I've noticed that blind ferrets don't dance as much.) He also had quite the nose for bubblegum in my purse, and loved to root around in my garden, even in his last weeks.
I could go on with lots of stories, but this is a medical list, so I'll stop there. We did actually try CPR and artificial respiration for a few minutes -- my better half is a paramedic, so he said he had to "at least try."
Mostly, I'll miss Bear's affectionate nature and the way he slept with a paw raised in the air, like he always had a question.
Andrea in MD
(moonferret at yahoo dot com)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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