Sir Woozle....My Little Knight

Sir Woozle announced to me this morning that he is tired and would like peace. Woozle came to me as someone’s throw away, and when I say throw away, that what they basically had done. He and the late Nissmo were found in a woman’s garden shed, skin and bones, little hair and full of mites and fleas. The SPCA took them and when eventually put up for adoption were going to be let go separately. My son was volunteering at the SPCA at the time and called me….. “mom… we gotta help these two ferrets, they are bonded and they are gonna break them up” So in August of 2004 two more ferrets were added to our family. Woozle at the time was named Mr Woozle…. A week after coming to us he got sick……REALLY sick…. The flu turned in to an upper respiratory infection. He was still very thin from his ordeal outside and I just didn’t think he was going to make. We went to the vets got him on meds and every three to four hours I had to pat his chest, roll him over and pat his back to break up the congestion. The I had to be there when he coughed all of it up so he would not aspirate on it. To my relief he fought and made it. Once he was better he was integrated with the girls, Pheelia, Lielah and Tauvi. He was always kind and gentle with them, particularly Lielah, my little tiny girl. He played with her gently, but let her do almost anything she wanted to him. No mater how hard Lielah got, he was always soft and gentle. Two years later Nissmo would pass, his bud and comrade in arms. When I allowed them to sniff Nissmo’s body, he gently rest his head across Nissmo’s shoulders and let out a sigh. It was as if he were reflecting upon their time together. I saw in Woozle, dignity, courage and strength. That is when he became Sir Woozle. And so for another year life went on, then he became ill and we found that he had a kidney failing. He was wasting away and getting thin….weak….. and lethargic. The vet put him on sub-qs to sustain him. Instead it revived him. He gained weight, put on a lush fuzzy coat and was back to being his energetic self. All I could think of was what a fighter he is……my “Come Back Kid” Then recently his prostate issues arose….again I watched him fight all that was going on. Then came the news after his sonogram……. Adrenal………. The prostate was just a secondary issue. The right adrenal gland had invaded the vena cava…….ok another fight we can handle. He seemed to be doing well until the bruises showed up 2 weeks ago. It was a fast downhill slide from there………….anemia has taken its sucker punch and has adrenal to back it up………
Yesterday Sir Woozle did not scratch at the cage door to be let out…… this worried me. He was slower and slept more throughout the day. This morning when I took him out of his condo, he slowly made his way to the paper box to sleep. He didn’t really want to socialize…..when it was time for morning treats…… well he really didn’t care, something two days before he would still clamor for. I picked him up and looked at him. The pink half of his nose was white…. his gums the same. I looked into his eyes and he spoke to me………” mom……I love you…….but Im tired………..
I have made the arrangements. Tonight is love and cuddles….maybe a last lay in the grass… a look at the stars and I will tell him about the promise of rainbow bridge. Tomorrow morning he finds peace.

My heart is broken

Schoolyard Bully

Schoolyard Bully
That’s kinda how I see adrenal disease
I’ve lost one baby during surgery, another with side complications from liver disease, suspect 1 in the future will have it because she always has rat tail at shedding time, and currently have 2 on Lupron: 1 being in the later stages.
Adrenal is the bully and has his gang, prostate issues, liver disease, kidney disease, anemia and lots of other little cronies that get their licks in with the protection of the crowd and the School Yard bully. Adrenal’s cronies are there to add insult to injury many that hide behind the Bully’s punch, but could be beaten on their own. If you do nothing, the bully wins every time, taking a precious life way too soon. If you take a stand and fight back with lupron, pred, meletonin, sub-qs and such, many times you walk a way with a black eye, in the form of a thinner wallet, some tears, a few more grey hairs or your heart still in your stomach, but life is preserved a little longer. When we fight this bully, we know eventually we will lose. Death is inevitable……. but, if our little fuzzbutt lives to a normal life span of 7 to 10 years, in a way we have triumphed over adrenal. The more we, as ferrants, fight the disease, cry out and demand answers, the more the vet industry will do to find a cure. Maybe one day we can knock this particular schoolyard bully down to size.

Cassie the not so Cassinator

Cassie was brought home last November. She had her moments of "niceness" but wouldn't hesitate to rip your arm off if it was what she desired to do. I knew we had a long road ahead of us. Well she has made so much progress in the last 6 months. We stopped the attacks. We down graded to biting the wrist and making humans only say ouch with the occasional curse word. Now....... she only bites the wrist on occasion....a reminder she is still pissed about something and isn't ready to fully trust the human race. We can now play with her and are trying to teach her to have a soft play bite. Another big step made today was getting her to play with another ferret.....nicely...... Up until now we have kept her separate because she would attack other ferrets as well. She wanted nothing to do with them. Recently she has been showing an interest in the others....... sniffing through the gates, or poking her nose into the younger groups cage. I decided to see what would happen. I took Parker out of his cage. He is the big lug, the gentle giant and the clown. I sat on the floor with Cassie. I let them sniff noses.... she jerked back and stiffened a little but eventually relaxed and took another sniff. She sat and watched him. Eventually she wiggled to get down. I let her slip out of my hands , onto my lap and to the floor. She approached him........ they went to instant butt sniffing....... Cassie began to dook and the next thing I knew the two were bouncing, dancing, dooking and chattering away. It was like they were best buds all their lives. 45 minutes later I had 2 speed bumps on the floor. It was time to separate them so that one did not aggravate the other trying to instigate more play.
Now I know we still have work ahead of us....an intro to Quizzy and Liberty is another story all together..... baby steps....... but we have over come so much. An angry ferret that was out for blood, is turning into a sweet, playful happy girl...... See Cassie..... life can be good.........

Lielah

I took some pics of Lielah before she starts her Lupron shots. I will be glad to get her started.

Lielah with Adrenal

My worst nightmares have come true for my little half pint girl. She is adrenal.



We had a vet visit they other day. They palpated her and could not feel any noticeable tumors.... they did an ultra sound and saw 1 spot they felt surely was a small tumor. They do not feel Lielah is a good candidate for surgery because of her age (5) and her petite stature. 1 lb 4 oz. I don't think she has a lick of fat on her. She is a lean mean war dancing machine. She has no lethargy.... bright eyed and into everything. So we discussed lupron-depot and meletonin. Because we are catching it so early Dr B feels very confidant that she will have years ahead of her for a happy life as long as nothing else sneaks up. Dr B is checking on pricing. *double sigh*


I have decided to go the way of drugs vs surgery, because Dr Barkley and Dr Lightfoot agree her age and petite structure make her a greater risk, not just from the surgery aspect but from the anaesthesia aspect. I am surgery shy because I lost a 3 pound, 2 year old during adrenal surgery. I just can't take in my bouncing little girl only to bring her home in a box......I am confidant that this is the right choice for my wittle pwincess ferwet

Heartbreak-Goodbye Little Man Oscar

A friend today, lost one of her ferrets to adrenal disease.

Oscar was a special guy. He came to Toni a naked and starved skeleton. She fed him, loved him and nurtured him back to a happy, active, life loving character. She got him back in August, I think, of 2007. I watched his progress has he strengthened and grew hair. His personality bloomed and in November I had the pleasure to meet him in person....well in ferret. What a lovely little man he was.

I started to wonder why God brings these creatures into our lives, entwines them into our heart strings only to pluck them away so soon. How cruel, I thought. Our hearts fall so quickly and we give everything to them only to have our hearts broken.

It isn't fair!

It isn't right!

As tears filled my eyes and as I cried for my friend and the emptiness I knew she was feeling...... I realized I was looking at it the wrong way. I was looking at it the "all about me" way. This isn't about us, this is about the little fuzzbutts that are brought into our lives. ............. and its not just ferrets, but all animals............. I think that sometimes God knows he is taking a four legged child from the earth soon. God sees they have been mistreated, abused and neglected. So he drops them into our lives.... into the lives of special people who cherish animals, spoil them and understand them. He does this so that they can know what it is to be loved, wanted and needed before their time comes to an end. God gives them to us, to fulfil their needs, not ours. So we love them and give them happiness in their final days, months or last year, so that they can feel what God truly meant for them to have.

Fly high little one.......Dook and Dance at the bridge until mom and dad come for you.

Cassie the Cassinator

Cassie has become known as the Cassinator. I never expected what has come to surface. She has a bad biting problem and sometimes just lunges at you and takes a chunk and other times she runs by bites and keeps going (we call this a drive by biting.) We are making some headway with her but today I have the blues from working with her. We were having a nice play session and when she would come after my arm a "no bite" was sufficient and play would continue. Well as I said things were going well when all of a sudden that switch went off in her head and she lunged at me and bit and bit and bit. I would scruff, drag say no bite and release and she would come back with a vengeance. I finally did a scruff and drag turned out the light and left her in her cage in the dark. A long time out...... I felt so depressed, not because I feel like I am failing at teaching her not to bite..... hell I expect it to take a while, Tauvi was a good 6 to 8 months..... I got depressed because I was trying to imagine what happened to her to put the anger in her. What is the motion or action that makes that switch flip and get the rage going? Are there that many cruel people out there, or is it just ignorance at purchasing a pet we know nothing about? I have seen Cassies sweet gentle side....... kisses galore, happy weasel war dancing .... tug of war and falling asleep in my arms. But she has another side and we can't figure out what trips it. It makes me cry when she gets like that. What did someone do to her? What horrible things can cause so much anger or fear in such a small creature? And then this leads me to think of all the other ferrets that are mistreated, neglected and dumped. Are we as a human race that cruel? Are those of us that have compassion for animals and other humans a dying breed? I know that when we adopt animals from shelters there are always ones that are damaged goods...... Tauvi was damaged and in many ways still is. She will bite strangers and and strange loud noises will still sometimes startle her and send her into the shakes. I am sure Cassie will be the same. I can only hope that one day she can dump the old suitcases filled with fear and replace the contents with the hugs and kisses that we constantly shower her with.