An Anniversary on the 4th of July

17 years ago, on 4th of July weekend, I brought home the toughest ferret I have ever known. Nyssa was a panda kit that was in the only pet store in North Carolina that I know of to have been shut down by the responsible authorities. Yes, it was that bad. That's where Nyssa started her journey, in a very small cage filled with 20 kits, no food, mountains of poop. The owners and their friends were smoking in the store. From what I later read I didn't see the half of how awful that place was.

Anyway, I went to a company picnic held on the grounds of the local nuclear plant. Don't even get me started on that. Doesn't everyone picnic at a nuclear plant? Anyway... One of my coworkers had a German shepherd on a leash. Nyssa wasn't impressed. She wasn't curious; she wanted the dog gone and was aggressive about it. The shepherd was absolutely terrified of her, growled and backed away as Nyssa, on her leash and harness, continued to challenge the dog and advance. Yeah, I picked her up because that could have gotten ugly, though I'm not sure for who.

When a ferret is diagnosed with lymphosarcoma the average life expectancy is 90 days according to the Dr. Dan Hudson, who was treating Nyssa at the time. Sadly I had way too much experience with that. Nearly a year and a half later I was writing about Nyssa's eighth birthday. She was just too stubborn to die despite having added adrenal disease to her list of problems. I finally had to let her go the following month.

Anyway, on this 4th of July I am remembering Nyssa. Happy Fourth to everyone out there. I hope you and yours, both two and four legged, are having a great day.

The End For My Carolina Ferrets

It's been a long time since I posted. I lost Zephyr to third degree A/V node heart block last summer. She was nine years old, which is a very good age for a ferret. She lived with the heart condition for just about eight months thanks to the fantastic work of Dr. Lauren Powers at Carolina Veterinary Specialists. She came up with an experimental medication regimen that kept Zephyr going, albeit slowly. According to everything I've read that is a very good result for a ferret with that condition.

As Zephyr slowed down so did Chin Soon. It became apparent by May or June that she wasn't well either. It turned out she had lymphoma, the number one killer of my ferrets over the years. Once Zephyr passed away the life seemed to go out of Chin Soon, who was suddenly a solo ferret after having companions for the previous eight years. I tried giving her all the attention I could and she was still affectionate but never was energetic again. The change in her was just heartbreaking. Sadly, with her illness I knew it was the wrong time to introduce a younger ferret. Also, by that time it was clear I'd be moving. I already had a job offer for my present position pending a series of background checks and I was expecting two other offers. Adding ferrets at that point made no sense.

Chin Soon lasted just a few weeks after Zephyr passed away. Fluid began to build up in her abdomen, just as it had in Kodo's during the last days of his life. I ended up taking her to the emergency vet in Raleigh who told me what I pretty much already knew: her time had come. Chin Soon was nine years old when I let her go.

Both Zephyr and Chin Soon are now buried next to Ella and their other companions over their years with me. I was fortunate enough to have more than seven years with Zephyr and more than eight years with Chin Soon. I miss them. When I moved to Texas last September I was without ferrets for the first time in 14+ years.

Ella May Be In Trouble, Zephyr Losing Weight

Due to the winter storm last week the vet appointment for Ella was put off until tomorrow morning. In the meanwhile, over the last couple of days, Ella has become very obviously ill. She can barely open her right eye at all and both eyes are watery. She's also had two serious bouts of diarrhea over the last five days with normal output in between. Ella has also always really loved rough play. The last two nights she's come to me to play with her as always. When she does, though, if I touch her belly much she vocalizes discomfort and play ends. That, combined with her blood test results from January 18th, especially her elevated globulin, have Dr. Powers thinking that Ella may have intestinal lymphoma. That would be truly horrible news.

Dr. Powers will call me back later today with, in her words, "lots of questions" when she's done with her current patient. She doesn't feel like coming in this evening instead of tomorrow morning will make a difference, so for now the plan is to keep tomorrow's scheduled appointment and do more diagnostic work to determine for certain what is wrong with Ella.

In the meanwhile Ella ran around and explored like always last night, is eating and drinking normally, and has plenty of energy so I am hoping against hope for better news when the tests are done.

I am also very concerned about Zephyr who has lost a lot of weight in a very short period of time and also has had on again, off again diarrhea. Like Ella there has been no drop off in Zephyr's activity level and her appetite is just fine. Like Ella she isn't bouncing as much and is avoiding rough play.

Whenever one of the other ferrets is sick Chin Soon tends to stick to them like glue. I saw this with a then eight year old Nyssa during the final month or two of her life. Chin Soon was Nyssa's constant companion then and would curl up and sleep with her. Chin Soon is doing that with Zephyr now which also worries me.

Ella is just two week short of the seventh anniversary of her rescue so she is right around eight years old. Zephyr is six weeks away from the sixth anniversary of her rescue and is roughly seven. Both are considered old in ferret terms. I'm still not ready to lose either one of them.

I'll post more when I know more.