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SICK FERRET - Kyuubi head auction/artwork for donations!!!
13 years ago
My ferret Salem is very sick.
It makes me heartbroken to think I may loose her... she was adopted at a year of age and was renowned for being a notoriously evil little biting thing. A bite with blood everywhere sort of evil. I suppose I cannot blame her if she was as abused by her former owner as I think she was. It took years of working with her daily to get her to stop the biting, and she became the most fun, cuddly, playful, talkative little ferret I've ever owned.
Pics:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e...../salemref1.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e.....m/salemwtf.jpg (she's a goofball if you can't tell...)
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e.....lemfoliage.jpg (again.. really... does that taste good?)
Unfortunately, the biting was not her only problem. At age 3, she became very ill 1-2 weeks after a vaccination. It was ANY vaccination, rabies or distemper, and she would begin to cough and loose her appetite. X-rays always showed the same thing each time... a very weird pneumonia, which would clear with antibiotics. But oh, the medical nightmare does not end there. She also began loosing fur on her tail and was a suspected adrenal disease case. She was given the lupron implant and it seemed to clear up, but that only masks the problem for awhile. She also began to get sick more often with seemingly frequent bouts of pneumonia even without vaccinations. The cause could not be found... she has had numerous x-rays, ultrasounds, aspirates, blood-work.. even a CT scan. All inconclusive and she was otherwise healthy.
As she aged, the pneumonia became more frequent and worse. She began having difficulty breathing even when the infection subsided. This is probably due to fibrosis of half of her lungs from chronic inflammation (seen on xray), and it got to the point where she has obvious increased effort breathing all of the time. She almost did not recover from the last bout of pneumonia a year ago. Her nursing care was intense... force feeding every 6 hours, antibiotics twice a day, nebulization/coupage, and subcutaneous fluids three times daily. She managed to pull through, but still remains on soft food and anti-inflammatories and for some unknown reason had lost some neurological function in her rear legs. She can get around fine, but walks on the side of her rear toes.
She has been relatively "healthy" for the past year, with no further episode. Yesterday morning I got up early as usual for school, fed her and she was gimping around like normal. When I came home, she was not herself. She was extremely lethargic, dehydrated and refused food, which is VERY unlike her. I force fed her, gave some subcutaneous fluids and let her rest overnight to see if there was any improvement. This morning she was no better. In fact, she was worse. I brought her in to school with me (they know here PRETTY WELL by now) for some tests to figure out what could cause this sudden decline. The bloodwork showed pretty high kidney values, which is odd since her last panel in June was normal. Regardless, she had to be hospitalized overnight in the ICU on fluids and medication.
The ultrasound is scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully it will give us some idea of what is going on, but I have my doubts. Salem is not horribly old for a ferret and a fighter. If she has a decent chance to pull through, I will make every attempt to help.
Unfortunately, even with my student discount, the veterinary bills are not cheap. I am a full time student and cannot afford the added medical bills... so I've made the difficult decision to sell my kyuubi head in order to help fund Salem's cause.
Auction:
http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1035233.html
I will also likely post another journal with other things for sale in the next few days since I have virtually no money to spare. I absolutely HATE to resort to donations, but at this point.. I don't see any other way. I still have two commissions to finish up, and although my school's schedule is intense beyond reason, ANY donation will get a drawing in return. Every little bit helps, and small amounts will receive a quick doodle, larger more complex/color/animated/etc. It may take me some time to complete them, but I always finish what I promise, and I can work on them immediately after class tomorrow.
My paypal address is tangerinenapalm[at]gmail.com
Please include your FA name and a link to a reference if you can donate. (Don't include "FA" since I have heard paypal has some issues with it.. just a name and ref link)
There is no set value on what will get a quick doodle vs a full fledged color drawing, but I will do my best to give it my all in appreciation for your kindness. Even if you can't spare any cash, I would be much obliged if you spread the word for Salem's cause.
I will continue to post pics and give updates to her progress.
Thank you all,
Circuit
It makes me heartbroken to think I may loose her... she was adopted at a year of age and was renowned for being a notoriously evil little biting thing. A bite with blood everywhere sort of evil. I suppose I cannot blame her if she was as abused by her former owner as I think she was. It took years of working with her daily to get her to stop the biting, and she became the most fun, cuddly, playful, talkative little ferret I've ever owned.
Pics:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e...../salemref1.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e.....m/salemwtf.jpg (she's a goofball if you can't tell...)
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e.....lemfoliage.jpg (again.. really... does that taste good?)
Unfortunately, the biting was not her only problem. At age 3, she became very ill 1-2 weeks after a vaccination. It was ANY vaccination, rabies or distemper, and she would begin to cough and loose her appetite. X-rays always showed the same thing each time... a very weird pneumonia, which would clear with antibiotics. But oh, the medical nightmare does not end there. She also began loosing fur on her tail and was a suspected adrenal disease case. She was given the lupron implant and it seemed to clear up, but that only masks the problem for awhile. She also began to get sick more often with seemingly frequent bouts of pneumonia even without vaccinations. The cause could not be found... she has had numerous x-rays, ultrasounds, aspirates, blood-work.. even a CT scan. All inconclusive and she was otherwise healthy.
As she aged, the pneumonia became more frequent and worse. She began having difficulty breathing even when the infection subsided. This is probably due to fibrosis of half of her lungs from chronic inflammation (seen on xray), and it got to the point where she has obvious increased effort breathing all of the time. She almost did not recover from the last bout of pneumonia a year ago. Her nursing care was intense... force feeding every 6 hours, antibiotics twice a day, nebulization/coupage, and subcutaneous fluids three times daily. She managed to pull through, but still remains on soft food and anti-inflammatories and for some unknown reason had lost some neurological function in her rear legs. She can get around fine, but walks on the side of her rear toes.
She has been relatively "healthy" for the past year, with no further episode. Yesterday morning I got up early as usual for school, fed her and she was gimping around like normal. When I came home, she was not herself. She was extremely lethargic, dehydrated and refused food, which is VERY unlike her. I force fed her, gave some subcutaneous fluids and let her rest overnight to see if there was any improvement. This morning she was no better. In fact, she was worse. I brought her in to school with me (they know here PRETTY WELL by now) for some tests to figure out what could cause this sudden decline. The bloodwork showed pretty high kidney values, which is odd since her last panel in June was normal. Regardless, she had to be hospitalized overnight in the ICU on fluids and medication.
The ultrasound is scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully it will give us some idea of what is going on, but I have my doubts. Salem is not horribly old for a ferret and a fighter. If she has a decent chance to pull through, I will make every attempt to help.
Unfortunately, even with my student discount, the veterinary bills are not cheap. I am a full time student and cannot afford the added medical bills... so I've made the difficult decision to sell my kyuubi head in order to help fund Salem's cause.
Auction:
http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1035233.html
I will also likely post another journal with other things for sale in the next few days since I have virtually no money to spare. I absolutely HATE to resort to donations, but at this point.. I don't see any other way. I still have two commissions to finish up, and although my school's schedule is intense beyond reason, ANY donation will get a drawing in return. Every little bit helps, and small amounts will receive a quick doodle, larger more complex/color/animated/etc. It may take me some time to complete them, but I always finish what I promise, and I can work on them immediately after class tomorrow.
My paypal address is tangerinenapalm[at]gmail.com
Please include your FA name and a link to a reference if you can donate. (Don't include "FA" since I have heard paypal has some issues with it.. just a name and ref link)
There is no set value on what will get a quick doodle vs a full fledged color drawing, but I will do my best to give it my all in appreciation for your kindness. Even if you can't spare any cash, I would be much obliged if you spread the word for Salem's cause.
I will continue to post pics and give updates to her progress.
Thank you all,
Circuit
I hope Dublin makes it... I sympathize with you and can relate. What medications are you using? Curious, since as a vet student particularly interested in mustelids, I can learn from others since there are SO many ways to treat the same diseases.
Luckily vet schools are teaching to vaccinate less. Vaccines cause too many problems (reactions, sarcomas, etc), and a booster is NOT needed every year like most people think. I'm doing the same thing as you and not vaccinating after 3 years of age. Even if a ferret bites someone... like cats and dogs, if it is not up to date on rabies it requires a 45 day quarantine (10 days if up to date).... so it's not always "off with their heads" like most people think. -whew-
Thank you for the kind words and support from a fellow ferret enthusiast. I appreciate it!
And I can relate to the metronidazole, although Salem hates the clavamox more than the metro OR pred. (probably because it's not compounded with flavor.. and she DESPISES it). It used to be that way with the prednisone too, but she seems to like the chicken flavored stuff I send out for and takes it like candy (same with the metro). When I gave her the first dose of clavamox she looked at me like "WHAT IS THIS??.. I EXPECTED THAT YUMMY PRED"
I'm so sorry for your loss.. ferrets are such fighters. My teacher always told me they are as tough as nails and if there is any animal that can make it its a ferret, though sometimes you have to give in. I'd have put salem down had she not improved or if she was suffering. I can't see fighting something that can't be won
Runnin out the door to classs! ill see what i can do later tonight x3
Every bit helps, and of course you;d get a drawing!!
I pitched in. I really hope she gets better soon.