Shana Tovah

This evening at sundown is the start of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. It is also the beginning of the High Holy Days for Jewish people, 10 days of reflection and penitence. It is the start of the year 5177, a year that is shaping up to be interesting to say the least.

New year's resolutions are not part of the Jewish tradition but I am going to make one anyway. I resolve to post more frequently about my ferrets, to take more cute ferret pictures, and to generally be more active on this blog.

I would like to take a moment to wish everyone Shana Tovah. May the coming year be happy, healthy, prosperous and sweet for you.

A Good Day For Ella, A Great Day For Team USA

Yesterday I was a bit under the weather. Ella, on the other hand, was having a good day. Her eye is almost completely back to normal. I also got her cytology report back from Dr. Powers.

The good news is that the masses on her spleen are benign. Quoting:

"Extramedullary hematopoiesis is a common cause for splenic enlargement in ferrets, especially older ferrets. The cause for this process has not been determined, but it may be associated with antigenic stimulation from the gut, endocrine or metabolic derangements, aging, or combinations thereof."

Dr. Powers' translation is that these are two spots where the spleen is producing extra red blood cells. Aging as a cause? Older ferrets? That sounds like Ella. We've known she's had an enlarged spleen for a few years.

The results on the enlarged subiliac lymph nodes were inconclusive. As Dr. Powers explained previously this could be caused by a chronic GI disease. It also...

"could possibly represent early stages of small cell lymphoma, the most common variant of lymphoma in old ferrets."

In other words we still don't know the cause. I still need to talk to Dr. Powers to decide how to proceed from here. In the meanwhile Ella hasn't had diarrhea in a week and is putting on weight. She hasn't been quite as active as she normally is but all in all she seems to be doing OK.

Tonight was better. In the race to the chicken gravy Ella took the gold, edging out Chin Soon in the run from the cage door to her favorite treat at the entrance to the kitchen. Not too bad for an old, blind ferret who is supposed to be past her prime.

So... last night we watched skiing and speed skating on a day when Americans won six medals. The women's downhill included some horrendous crashes. It also saw Lindsey Vonn take the gold medal and Julia Mancuso win the silver, the first time U.S. women finished 1-2 since 1984. I also saw Shani Davis take the gold medal in men's 1,000 meter speed skating while Chad Hedrick took the bronze. It was the best day ever for Team USA in the Winter Olympics.

Tonight it's skiing again, and lots of playing with some bouncy little weasels. Add a little figure skating and it sounds like fun to me. I just wish I could be in Vancouver seeing it live.

Four Years Later It's Ferrets and Figure Skating Again

Four years ago I wrote about watching the Winter Olympics and playing with my ferrets. This year I actually received an e-mail from the U.S. Olympic Committee which asked me if I'd be willing to blog about Team USA here on the ferrets' blog again this year. They actually noticed my three posts four years ago. Amazing! Anyway, I won't disappoint them.

Three of the four ferrets who were there for the Olympics in 2006 are back. Nyssa, of course, lost her battle with lymphoma at the ripe old age of eight in July, 2006. Ella, Zephyr and Chin Soon are now all older ferrets but don't tell them that when they are in high energy play mode.

So, will Chin Soon take the gold again as my non-stop weasel? So far, no, that honor goes to the always playful Zephyr. As I wrote four years ago Zephyr and all the ferrets love the Olympics because while I watch they are free to run around and during long commercial breaks they get lots of attention. Oh, and yeah, I love the Winter Olympics too. I went to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and I've been addicted to the quadrennial games ever since.

What about Team USA? Skaters Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig turned in a beautiful performance this evening in the pairs short program. They aren't expected to contend for a medal but their skating was still fantastic to watch.

Ella's eye seems to be improving slowly. Earlier it was fully open but at medication time this evening it didn't look too good. I hope to have results from her lab work in the next day or two. Zephyr seems fine. She's growing a summer coat in midwinter. Her seasons have always been way off and she's been healthy all her life. Anything resembling adrenal symptoms have disappeared, at least for now.

Anyway, I'll be blogging about Olympic ferret playtime again over the next two weeks. I can't disappoint the USOC, can I?

Happy Thanksgiving From Chin Soon and the Other Ferrets

A very Happy Thanksgiving from Chin Soon and the other ferrets.

OK, Chin Soon probably doesn´t know anything about Thanksgiving. The holiday was a good excuse to share a new,cute picture of her standing up on the plexiglass barrier that keeps her out of the kitchen. Yes, she has a full winter coat. Chin Soon is doing just brilliantly since recovering from her surgery in April and is as playful and crazy as ever.

Ella and Zephyr are doing just fine too. I´ll have more cute pictures here and on their website soon.

Happy Belated Birthday, Chin Soon

Life's been crazy busy lately and I didn't post last week about an important event. Last week was 5 years and a month since Chin Soon's rescue. We were told she was 11 months old then. That means she had her sixth birthday. Since we don't know her exact date of birth we mark her birthday by the anniversary of her rescue. Happy belated birthday, Chin Soon! I'll try to get some new, cute pictures taken soon for all to see.

Oh, and yes, Chin Soon did fully recover from her vaccination reactions and her surgery. She's bouncy and playful and acts like a young ferret again even though she's now officially "geriatric". Just don't tell her that. Last night Chin Soon and Ella took turns pouncing each other and wrestling like crazy. Ella is now about 7½ and she also doesn't know she's supposed to be old. I think Chin Soon thought it was time that she became dominant alpha and Ella was having no part of that. Ella is still the toughest ferret of the three. She doesn't start fights but she sure finishes them. In that way she reminds me of Tenchi, our first ferret and then our first alpha once ferret math struck., even if she looks more like a miniature version of Kodo (a/k/a Big Bear).

Anyway, my housemate and I did pick up a small cake to celebrate the occasion. It's been a good birthday for Chin Soon and we're thrilled she's still around to brighten our lives.

Chin Soon's Delayed Reaction To Her Distemper Vaccination

Last Tuesday it seemed that Chin Soon's reaction to her distemper vaccination was the least severe of the three. By last night Ella and Zephyr were completely back to normal and were especially playful. They were the proverbial energizer weasels: they kept going and going. Chin Soon continued to look and feel out of sorts while the others recovered and by last night it looked like she was in serious trouble. She had no energy at all and still seemed off balance. By last night it was so bad she could barely walk. Chin Soon had obviously been losing weight despite still having her usually strong appetite for chicken gravy. I'm just not sure she was eating much of anything else. She was weak but it didn't look at all the same as when she had insulinoma. She just plain looked miserable.

I was able to reach Dr. Powers around 10 PM last night and she really came through for Chin Soon and for me. Based on her instructions I gave Chin Soon 0.05ml of pediapred (1mg/ml concentration) as an anti-inflammatory. We still had pred in the house from when she was taking it for insulinoma. I also gave her a tiny amount of famotidine (generic for Pepcid AC) crushed up in some more gravy. I've been offering her gravy every three to four hours since then. If need be Dr. Powers offered to see Chin Soon today on an emergency basis. Thankfully it wasn't necessary.

The good news is that Chin Soon seems to have turned the corner and is slowly improving. She's more perky and is eating plenty of gravy when offered. She doesn't feel nearly as light. I checked her blood glucose just in case and it was a nice, normal 101 this morning. Dr. Powers called to check up on Chin Soon and instructed me to continue the pediapred once a day for another couple of days and to continue carafate (now discontinued for the other ferrets) and the famotidine for another four days. We'll touch base on Monday or Tuesday.

Chin Soon is scheduled for her rabies vaccination and having her teeth cleaned right after the 4th of July holiday. Right now it's an open question whether or not we'll go ahead with either of those things. It all depends on how she recovers from here on out.

Too Hot For My Ferrets (and For Me)

Our air conditioner is out and we're waiting for service to show up. They were supposed to "work us in" on Thursday but never showed up. This is North Carolina and we're already having summer weather. Even with everything opened up and the ceiling fans on it climbed to 82°F in the house. Even now, as of 2:27 AM, it's still 80°F indoors even though it's much cooler outside. It's also humid and I can't sleep.

Ferrets generally don't do well in temperatures over 80°F so the little weasels are probably even more uncomfortable than I am. I've made sure they have plenty of water and plenty of bedding to burrow into if they want. During playtime they seemed as happy and as active as ever at first but they ran out of energy and sacked out quickly. The few times they've had to deal with hot weather in their lives their energy level has always been way down.

It's supposed to get up to 88°F which is definitely too hot for my ferrets. If the air conditioning repair people don't show up early I'll have to make up some ice packs for the ferrets so that they can keep cool. That's pretty much all I can do until the A/C is fixed which, I hope, will be sometime during the day.

UPDATE: The A/C was fixed at 10 AM this morning. The ferrets are energizer weasels tonight and as playful as ever. What a difference a day and some cooler air makes.

Chin Soon Is Recovering Beautifully

Chin Soon is doing absolutely brilliantly. Yesterday, after a low blood glucose reading, Dr. Powers decided to discontinue her insulin. Now, more than 48 hours without insulin, Chin Soon has a blissfully normal blood glucose of 105. Her insulin producing cells in her pancreas seem to be working normally again. All her blood glucose readings over the past 48 hours have been either normal or just a bit above normal. It's all good.

Chin Soon is also regrowing hair on her belly and where her forelegs were shaved to insert a catheter. This is a sure sign that her adrenal disease is gone.

Last night Chin Soon ran the most of all the three ferrets. She wants to go a million miles an hour, something I can't let happen just yet. Her incision is healing beautifully but it's not 100% healed yet. Fortunately Chin Soon is like Pertwee in one respect: if I put her on my shoulder and walk around she is happy to take in the world from there and calms right down. Poor Ella got pounced by Chin Soon twice and didn't get to fight back and have a wrestling match because I picked Chin Soon up and put her on my shoulder.

Anyway, I'm thrilled be these results. While Dr. Powers says it's still to early to know for sure everything at this point seems to indicate a completely successful surgery and a full recovery.

New Website For My Ferrets

My ferrets web pages have been moved to their own site and my ferrets now have their own web domain. I'll be first updating the pages and then redesigning them. Right now the HTML and design is positively archaic. There will be a new look soon.

The new website is at: http://www.ferretsofdisorder.co.cc. The old pages will redirect to the new for a few days until the old domain expires. Please check it out over the next few weeks and watch the changes.

Happy Birthday Zephyr!

With all the worry and concern about Chin Soon I neglected to mention something important. The fifth anniversary of Zephyr's original rescue and first vet appointment has passed. We don't know the exact date of Zephyr's birth but just like Ella she was estimated to be one year old when she was first examined by Dr. Dan Hudson. Add one to five and you get six years old. Happy Birthday Zephyr!

Zephyr is now a geriatric ferret but you could never tell be the way she looks or acts. She's an energizer weasel who keeps going and going during playtime. OK, she didn't the last few nights but now that she knows that Chin Soon is home, alive, and well I'll be she perks up and acts like her old self again.

Chin Soon Is Five

It was late in May, 2004 that my housemate, working with a local pet store that has since closed, rescued a little ferret that had been left at a local martial arts studio that has also since closed. That ferret, Chin Soon, was 11 months old at the time. Assuming that was accurate Chin Soon almost certainly had her fifth birthday recently. My youngest and often craziest ferret is now middle aged. Where did the time go?

The good news is that Chin Soon is happy, healthy, and still fiercely protecting her polar fleece toys. The only other ferret I've had who was so incredibly protective of and possessive of certain toys was Nyssa. Woe to any ferret who touched Nyssa's favorite stuffed doggie. Chin Soon isn't aggressive the way Nyssa was. If Zephyr steals a toy she'll patiently wait and steal it back the second Zephyr abandons it and make absolutely certain it's in one of her favorite hiding places, mostly under the coffee table. You can see her poking her head out from under the coffee table in the picture. She will then check on it regularly to make sure it stays put. That's my Chin Soon.

Happy Birthday little girl!