Chin Soon and Nyssa's Latest Vet Visit

Chin Soon and Nyssa went to the vet on Tuesday. Chin Soon had her distemper shot (an annual event) and thanks to pretreatment with Benadryl she didn't have an adverse reaction this year. She was bouncing all over the place and Dr. Wolfe, who more than not sees very sick ferrets, really enjoyed her. The little monster jumped up high to pull Dr. Wolfe's jacket off a doorknob where it was hanging. Later she managed to squeeze under a door and lead us on a merry chase through the office. I think she had great fun at our expense.

Nyssa, OTOH, was there for last desperate measures. She's lost another 139g and is under half her normal body weight at just 616g. She looks like a walking skeleton. She's incontinent now and her diarrhea can no longer be controlled -- all part of the lymphoma destroying her digestive system. She was overdue for a depo medrol shot (long lasting steroid) and that seems to have perked her up a bit. She's eating like there is no tomorrow and still fighting for life. My mom, who visited from last Thursday through this past Monday, found her pitiful to look at but was amazed at how much she acted like a normal ferret despite being so emaciated. Nyssa hasn't given up so I can't give up on her just yet. Her time is coming soon, though. By any standard she is an old ferret so I guess I should be grateful that she's hung around this long and maintained some quality of life. It's still hard.

Tonight Nyssa did eat some gravy, took Ferretvite (a high calorie supplement) as a treat twice, plus begged for a treat and took a Raisin Bandit. She also ate lots of kibble, drank lots of water, and ran around. That doesn't sound much like a ferret in the final stage of cancer and near the very end of her life, does it?

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