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I was gonna do ferret bueller but I got vetoed
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Sep 23, 2014 00:05
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 06:58 |
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We noticed last night that our 3-ish-year-old rescue girl had very swollen lymph nodes under her armpits, and the ones near her neck are swelling a bit. The symptoms just seemed to present themselves in the last couple of days because we clipped her nails last week and there was no problem. She's eating fine and she's playful and sweet but I'm going worst-case and thinking lymphoma, especially because she's had splenomegaly since we adopted her and our vet's been monitoring that. Since her quality of life hasn't been affected we haven't gone with a splenectomy, especially given her history prior to us adopting her. Unfortunately, his office is shut down today but at least he works on Fridays and Saturdays so maybe we can squeeze in a visit this weekend and figure out where to go from here.
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Nov 27, 2014 18:21
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Serella posted:Is she on any medication currently? We briefly thought one of mine had lymphoma, but it turned out to be a reaction to his prednisone that was causing his lymph nodes to swell. I won't lie, it eventually caused me to have to put him down, but he still had more time and quality of life. She's not on meds, and she's eating and drinking fine without exhibiting any symptoms of illness. The wife and I are taking off work to get her a biopsy and blood work on Tuesday. The vet wanted to make us aware of the worst-case scenario, which we already ran through all Thanksgiving. On a lighter note, right after we got a vet consult on Friday we took her out and about on her harness for her first trip to the local pet store, which she loved. Got a free Christmas picture taken and everything, which reminds me that they still haven't emailed it to us yet.
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Nov 30, 2014 07:03
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Well, the biopsy came back positive for lymphoma. She's had a hard life up to the point we got her from the shelter - her owner had been hit on-foot by a van and comatose for 6 months before she died, and the owner's husband was apparently drunk when he brought her and her two cagemates to the rescue. All 3 of them appeared malnourished, and 2 of them died about a week or so after arrival. She fattened up nicely after we adopted her though and she clearly appreciates it - she's a kisser and she loves to lick faces to the point where you'd probably tire of it before she does. The vet recommends prednisone or oral chemo medications; I'm not sure how effective the latter will be if we don't combine that with a trip to a veterinary oncologist, and even that would just prolong the inevitable. At first we were planning on making that decision in about ten days when she goes back to have her stitches out from the biopsy, but I'm feeling more and more like I want to schedule a visit earlier to get her on medication so that we can make sure her quality of life doesn't decline with us just asleep at the wheel. This sucks, especially because our other 2 girls (non-Marshall's bred) are nearly 5 and 6 respectively and both of them blaze around with a shitload of energy. Didn't figure it'd be the younger one first.
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Dec 11, 2014 02:44
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Our lymphoma rescue's made it this far, but maybe not much longer. We noticed symptoms of ataxia Sunday night, with the tilted head and jankety stride, and took her in today. The vet's thinking what I thought; the cancer may have advanced to her nervous system, especially because her pupils are constricting unevenly under light. However, she's still eating, drinking, and playing in a very lively (if crooked) fashion. He gave her a cortisone shot and told us to keep an eye on her, but it's pretty clear her time is limited. I'm surprised she's held out this long and still seems to be plugging away despite everything. I definitely don't want her to suffer and honestly thought I'd be euthanizing her today, but I can't argue that it's nice to have a little more time.
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Jan 14, 2015 05:54
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CompactFanny posted:That's what killed me about ferret rescue. We got lots of returns, sometimes years later. Oh thanks, these now 6 year old dudes are definitely gonna get adopted! Oh wait they'll go to hospice at my house and I'll have to nurse their geriatric asses til they finally keel over and make me cry. FUN We could never have returned Annie to the shelter. Sure, she didn't get along with our other two (who didn't get along with each other), and we bought a third cage for her, and she never QUITE litter trained right (yeah, I know, ferrets). She was our responsibility though, and we kept her right up until the end. So I posted this a long-rear end time ago, back in December 2014: ElectricSheep posted:Well, the biopsy came back positive for lymphoma. I haven't posted in the thread since. I don't think I wanted to because I'd jinx her chances. Annie had lymphoma for over a year, because we got the diagnosis in December 2014 but she probably was sick for longer than that. Who can say? She only lost most of her fur a month or so ago. We had her on Prednisone the whole time, just mitigating as best possible. The tumors were extensive, and her abdomen was puffy but she was still ambulatory. We felt bad, but the whole time she just kept eating, drinking, playing, and pooping - and she ate a TON, all things considered. The vet told us that when she was ready to go, she'd let us know. She fought the whole drat way through, never stopping her eating or playing; her stance and gait was affected and she wasn't steady on her feet, but she still kept going. We felt worse when she started getting a bit incontinent a couple weeks ago, but despite that she kept on keeping on, playing and kissing (and nipping, let's not lie). We had a routine vet check-up coming for another of the girls soon, so we decided to bring Annie in too. We didn't make it that far. Late Sunday night Annie woke up, used the bathroom, and stumbled; fortunately my wife and I were awake and we went to check on her. She'd suffered a rectal prolapse. We wrapped her in a towel and immediately took her to the emergency vet, knowing what was going to happen even as the vet warned us on the phone there was probably nothing he could do. For the first time, even with the lymphoma having progressed as far as it had, Annie just held still in the towel and rested her head on us as we held her. No kisses, no curiosity, none of the typical ferret "STOP HOLDING ME" scrambling. She was ready. The vet sedated her and administered IP pentobarbital, and she just quietly passed away in our arms, wrapped in her bathtime towel. I still feel raw about it; I've never been present for a pet of mine being euthanized. I'm sure I'll feel like hell when our other two go (they're closing in on 6 and 7 years old and we've had them since they were kits). She's not suffering, and she's not in any more pain, and I'm thankful for that. Guess I just wanted to pop in and let the thread know that, like any animal, you can get a little shelter ferret that loves you so much they'll fight their own body just to spend one more day with you. ElectricSheep fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Jan 13, 2016 |
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Jan 13, 2016 04:02
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it soothed my nerves but ultimately can't do anything for the ferts so I stopped looking for cage deals on there. Not worth raising my blood pressure over it.
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Lucky you, I've apparently owned the only three ferrets my vet ever encountered that refused to calm down when scruffed.
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Mar 12, 2016 20:35
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 06:58 |
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One of my ferrets was a big girl who adored people in general and loved being scuffled about by hand, so it's not too surprising.
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Nov 26, 2017 04:12
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