Back in the beginning of March of this year I received a message asking me if I would take in a ferret.
I got in touch with the ferret's owner and we emailed back and forth for a couple weeks, her mom wanted to make sure I would be the right pick for her sweet baby girl. Then, on the 17th, they drove the 5 hours to bring little Gir to me.
She looked so tiny, because she was so delicately featured, but she was actually pretty long!
Almost as long as Dexter, and close to him in colour, but Gir was lighter by a few shades. Maybe almost a champagne? And Dexter would be a chocolate/cinnamon (depending on the season, he'd have more red)? I suck at ferret colours. Mostly because I just love them all, partly because there's too many names for one colour.
As soon as I saw her, I recognized that there was some sort of issue because her back end was pretty big. Once I picked her up, I was pretty sure it was her spleen, which isn't necessarily an issue itself. A ferret's spleen will enlarge when other issues are present. She would have had a visit to the vet anyway, but it was an absolute must this time.
Her mom and dad hung out a while, meeting my others and chatting about Gir.
Gir was exploring the room and enjoying the Tower of Butts. She pooped on the floor and it was half normal, half diarrhea. Poor baby. I chalked it up to stress.
This poor baby didn't want anything to do with me at first. She would be napping in the "quarantine room" and I would come in. She would get up and go hide somewhere else, like under the dresser or the bed. I felt bad for her, but I felt she would be happy again soon. There were other ferrets waiting for her to be sprung from quarantine! I also wasn't worried because other ferrets that I have taken in reacted the same way for a while. Then we had bonded. And I felt that, in her own time, little Gir and I would also bond. So I wasn't worried.
I hardly ever called her "Gir" actually. I felt like every time I did, I was growling at her. I mostly called her "Girly" and "my Girl". Which led me to the name "Vaida" from the movie "My Girl", and I ran it past Rich because he wanted to pick the name.
The conversation went like this:
Rich - "Vaida? Vaida. It's almost like Vader. It's a good name. That's her name."
Me - "Alright then."
One time when Rich was holding her, he commented that her little heart didn't beat as fast as the others. I shook my head and thought he was crazy.
Vaida-GirL's first mom had warned me that she was a climber. But she had only scaled the baby gate a couple times early on. Of course, with that big back end, it was hard to get up and over.
She was timid and cautious most of the time, and she didn't play with toys much yet. Though she was pretty interested in the squeaky dragon, and she had moved the pink one around a few times, she didn't stash it like the others. In time, I thought.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrwQ4zDD3WA&list=UUSalAjAoTWgJt4SEpvp5ZtA We would put her on my bed, and she would hop around a bit and once, I even heard one tiny, quiet little dook from her! My heart fluttered!
She had stopped eating the kibble she had come to us with, which as I understand, she had been eating most of, if not all, her life. She didn't want any of my kibbles either. I offered her the mix, and she refused. I offered each separately (ZiwiPeak has a strong, odd smell, I wondered if that was the put off for her) but she still refused. I made her "soupies" with them, and she usually refused any soups if there was kibble in it. If I syringed any, she'd spit it out and gag.
I offered her treats, and she would only eat the Bandit treats her first mom had brought with her. Somehow though, she managed to bring her little self to taste an Orijen Alberta Wild Boar freeze-dried treat. She LOVED them! If you didn't open that bag fast enough, you were getting a nipping! For a while, that was pretty much ALL she would eat. Until I wondered how she'd do with thawed raw foods... I made a very thin raw rabbit soupie, and... she slurped it up! I was so excited! Finally, something else on her menu!
Eventually, I tried chicken, and she liked it. Raw eggs, she liked it. Lamb, not so keen, but she ate it. Duck, no way! Any time I tried to sneak even just a SPRINKLE of ground kibble, she knew at the first sniff! If I syringed any into her, she would spit it out or puke it up, gag and paw at her mouth. So we gave up trying to get her to eat kibble. If she wants raw soupies forever, then that's what we'll feed her.
And feed her I did. Each day, several times a day, I made her a soup, syringe fed her until she would lick from the bowl on her own. Some days she fought me hard and I would have to scruff her to get the syringe in. Some days she would just lick from the bowl on her own. For a while, I was so scared she would hate me for syringe feeding her. I felt terrible for stressing her even more than she already was. She had to be in your lap to lick from the bowl. Absolutely had to be. Or in your arm, as you held her and the bowl of soup. Princess in training, as you can imagine. The times she ate on her own were wonderful.
When we went to the vet, the vet said Vaida-GirL was likely adrenal, hence the enlarged spleen. So we started her on lupron that day.
The vet said her heart was slow, but didn't start us on meds, so I thought it must not be slow enough to warrant them. (This vet pushes meds any chance she gets.)
I told the vet about the symptoms I had seen: the runny poops, the gagging, vomiting, pawing at the mouth, refusal to eat. I told her I was concerned about a blockage. I asked about a barium x-ray.
The vet thought a moment before telling me that "given her age" - which was almost 5 years old - it would more likely be lymphoma or Irritable Bowel Disease. And that she'd have to biopsy to properly diagnose either one.
Vaida had just started having really stinky diarrhea a day or two before that appointment, so I pushed for amoxicillan to clear that up. The vet hesitated, and I pressed her. I said if it didn't help with the super stinky diarrhea, we'd come back, but I wanted to try that before a big surgery. She agreed.
For the next two weeks, I had to syringe meds, which Vaida-GirL decided were good enough to not fight, twice a day. This was the
real start to me and her bonding. And it did help with her poops. They stopped being so stinky and they were less watery, but they still weren't normal. I had also decided that adding pumpkin to her soupies once a week or so may be helpful. And again, her poops firmed up slightly more. I was confident we could fix her up in time. She still seemed so sad though. I wished so deeply that I could get her to understand that I loved her already and would be there for her.
She was good company while I sewed in that bedroom, even though she'd come grab my sock if she thought I should pay attention to her instead. She would be scooped up, snuggled and smooched. I felt like we were getting closer and truly forming a bond. She would actually come to me these days. I enjoyed that she was looking for me and wanted my attention, even if it came with a nip.
One day before quarantine was up, I walked into the bedroom to hang out with her. I couldn't find her in any of her hidey holes! I was starting to panic, calling her name, rechecking everywhere she could be. Could she have escaped our apartment? Would I find her? As I turned to leave the room, I saw something move slightly on my bed... So I dug through the blankets, to find her blinking up at me like, "what? You didn't think the bed was safe from me forever, did you?" Eventually, she showed me how she could climb up my bed, with her back pushed up against the wall. And I thought it would be so sweet to sleep with a ferret in the bed, until I tried it. She is a foot nipper! And I couldn't sleep with teeth on my toes.
One day, after her amoxi was finished, I brought Dexter into my bedroom to start introductions. I put them both on my bed. It seemed like a good place for an intro to start. It wasn't as crazy with dooking and dancing and playing as I thought it might be. It was mostly sniffing and more sniffing. But it went very well. I was pleased. The next time I brought Dexter and Felix. And again, it went well. Lots of sniffing, and when Vaida had had enough for that moment, she would hide under the sheet and I took the boys out of the room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNW_HGb3nWA&list=UUSalAjAoTWgJt4SEpvp5ZtA The next time I brought her into the livingroom. And she got to meet Aurora with the boys. It was a little overwhelming to have all these ferrets around, I'm sure. But she did well. And I was there to pet her and reassure her that she was safe. During these stages, she would often come over to me when she wanted a break from all the sniffing and play-chasing, and curl up on my lap for a nap or just a rest. This was when any lingering doubts I had that she accepted me as her new human, had for sure vanished. I even started to get kisses.
I decided to move her cage into the livingroom. Now that she trusted me, I felt it would be the right time to start that mext part of the transition. From this day on, her little face would pop up out of her hammock or bed to welcome me home from work, from getting groceries, from bringing down a load of laundry. It would pop up every time I came out of the bedroom or the kitchen. That adorable little face, with the speckle on the tiny nose, and the sparkling dark eyes. Asking to come out and play, to get a snuggle and a smooch. And hopefully to weasel an extra treat or two out of dad.
In the livingroom, she found the digboxes. Oh, what fun they are! The macaroni is noisy and loud! The perfect ferret play box! The starch packing peanuts are soft and fun, and there are jingly and crinkly balls in there too! Vaida loved to romp through and then take a nap in the peanuts. She would fend off other ferrets from
that box! They were
her peanuts and while she was in them, no one else was allowed in!
I had a few interactions go in the tub, usually in the shower, instead of a bath. The silly girl would stand in the stream, lifting her face and pointing her nose into the falling water. Then she would snort and shake her silly head. Dexter started imitating her. He had never done that before. But I guess he thought it looked fun. So he stood next to her in the shower stream. They'd lift their heads together and then snort and shake together. Little clowns.
Vaida and Dexter had one incident where he thought he should scruff her, and she wasn't having that, they each rolled away from each other, but my hand was petting Vaida, and I ended up with bites on fingers on both of my hands! How I ended up with them in her mouth, I don't remember. They were good bites, but she was just reacting to Dexter's scruff, she didn't mean it. And they were alright after that, even though I was paranoid.
She gravitated to Aurora, probably because that girl is so laid back, she didn't make Vaida too nervous. And Aurora was happy to snuggle anytime Vaida relaxed and stayed there long enough for it, and a boy didn't harass her too much in the snuggly bed. I have a few photos, but I was hoping for much better ones in the future. Of all 4 of them, Vaida, Aurora, Felix and Dexter, snuggling together.
Vaida liked the cat condo. She could pull herself right up into it. She just couldn't get back down. I had to put a hand out for her to use as a step. She also pottied a couple times on the stand part of it. *sigh* Cute little brat. I also watched her climb Dharma and Drake's cage one day. She got about half way, and started to climb back down. She is my ONLY ferret to ever do that so far! The others all need me to take them off. Little smartypants...
Vaida was a daddy's girl. She always perked up her little ears when she heard Rich's voice. She would head to him from the other side of the room. She would refuse a soupie I had just made for her and look up at him with those dark, sparkling eyes and he would run to make her another one. It would be EXACTLY the same as the one I made, but she would eat the one from him! Eating in his lap or in his arm was a special treat.
One day, we noticed that she was refusing food yet again, for the second day in a row. Day one of this time though, I had managed to syringe-start her. And before bed, I had given her most of a raw egg. Rich tried to give her a wild boar treat on day two, and she didn't want it. We knew something was up. I had been thinking of her blockage symptoms all this time, and decided to mix pumpkin with FDR rabbit because she wouldn't take the pumpkin alone.
I had to syringe this into her, little by little. CC by CC. She did two very scary poops, that were the consistency of raw egg white, and then she pushed out a huge hair "sausage" somehow! The poor little babe was extremely tired and just wanted to sleep. About an hour after the sausage, she had diarrhea after diarrhea. Her poor little body was contracting like it was trying to poop, even after she had finished.
When the spasms stopped, she wanted foods! She sucked down the last half of the pumpkin-rabbit soup and finally got to a sound sleep, but I stayed up all night long with her. We were so lucky she got it out. We were so lucky she didn't hurt herself in the process. We were so lucky I didn't over-syringe food into her. The next morning, she made the most perfect, beautiful poop I have ever seen come from her little butt!! I have never been so happy to see a poop in my entire life!!
After that was out and she had time to recuperate, she was like a completely different ferret. She was eating and eating. And eating. And eating some more! We could hardly make soupies fast enough for the little vacuum! And I thought it was time to reintroduce some kibble. So one night, I was mixing up a new batch, and breaking up the Stella & Chewy's FDR to mix up. She came trotting over because the bags are crinkly (like her treat bag). Her little nose was just sniffing everything! I held out some of each kind of food I had. She sniffed it all. She
took a piece of WFE90, and licked it, as it rolled, all over the livingroom floor! It was a little soggy by the time she left it. She also took a piece of FDR duck. Then she dropped it and shook her little head. I scooped her up and took the tiny piece. I rubbed it on her teeth and she licked them clean. She laid beside me as I mixed the foods. I put a single layer of the mix in her bowl and waited.
It took a couple days, but she finally decided to eat them! Rich made the mistake of checking if the crunching noise was coming from her, when she saw him watching, she stopped eating the kibbles! But then she decided they were too good to leave alone. She even ate the smelly ZiwiPeak food! I watched her pick them out of her bowl to eat first!
Her poops were becoming more and more consistently normal. We were so happy to see good poops in her cage and the potties. We checked every poop she made and analyzed them, compared them. Her body seemed to be recovering and readjusting to life without the obstruction. And to good food! Her enlarged spleen, which had been pushed to the front of her little belly, was now more in the place it should have been. That helped her be more able to climb over and through tunnels, in and out of hammocks and beds.
With a body absorbing the nutrients from the good foods comes the energy! Oh, how this made my heart sing! To see this once sluggish and sleepy little girl really dancing, playing and dooking it up for the first time! I can't even express how that made me feel! I was over the moon for her! To see her so happy with life now, feeling so good, it was amazing! After fighting her and for her, she was now being a real ferret again, and for the first time with me. She was running around! Jumping over the tunnels and tubes she had been clumsily dragging herself over! Getting into things! Climbing onto the table and knocking things off of it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzWDqLlrv_c&list=UUSalAjAoTWgJt4SEpvp5ZtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD-eFtVnVE0&list=UUSalAjAoTWgJt4SEpvp5ZtA&index=4 This little ferret made my heart feel like the Grinch's heart, when it grows so big it bursts the little heart viewer.
She kept getting better and better, more and more ferrety. And every day, her poops were getting better and better.
We went home for a few days to attend the funeral of Rich's grandmother. We had friends come over every day to check on everyone and fill up food and water. We got home late on Thursday night. Dexter, Felix and Vaida were all awake, welcoming us home. I let miss Vaida out first. We played, we snuggled, and she got lots of kisses because I missed her and the others. I didn't stop thinking about them, and talking about them while we were gone. I had told my family about how awesome she was doing now that the blockage was out. I was enjoying watching her play on the "grassy knoll" (the roll of fake grass that she really inspired me to look into getting for them) and admiring her for getting over her depression and becoming the happy little dookster in front of my eyes. I was so proud of my Vaida baby's journey so far. I was looking forward to the next few years with her. I was excited to get her fully integrated with Felix, Aurora and Dexter. Life with my babies was good. Perfect.
The next day, she was her normal, perky, curious little self. There was no reason for me to think anything was happening with her. So as I was getting ready to go spend the evening with friends, and I heard Aurora squeak at Dexter, I went out to see what was happening. He was actually bugging her. But I saw poop in Vaida's hammock. Then I saw Vaida on the bottom of her cage, laying awkwardly, tail fuzzed. I scooped her up and she was so limp and unresponsive. While Rich held her, I made some electrolyte water and a super thin soup to syringe into her, while I called the emergency vet. She swallowed small amounts of both for me. I called my friend to tell her I wouldn't be coming, and they rushed over to be with us.
When I finally got to speak to my vet, she suggested giving some syrup to see if it would perk her up. If it would, then it could likely be insulinoma we were dealing with. I clung to that idea, the hope that I could fix her again, but in reality, I knew it was something worse. The vet called back to see if it had had an effect, and we decided to meet at the clinic.
Our friends sped us there in their truck, but Vaida had left us, in a blankey, in my arms on the way there. All I could do was hold her and cry.
The vet listened for her little heart, and confirmed that she was gone and I slid down the wall and burst into more tears. I knew she was talking, but I was only recognizing that she was using kind words. Everything was a blur and my ears were muffled. I only remember hearing her say that not everyone takes in the elderly pets, that I did everything I could for her, and that she could feel a mass in her abdomen. I was able to ask if it could be another hair ball, she said she didn't think so. I also remember hearing her say that I had gotten Vaida's weight up nicely for the last time we were there. Whatever else was said, I don't know.
We brought her home so her three friends could sniff her to know that she was gone, and to say goodbye. I couldn't bear to let go of her. So I held her as they came to see her. Dexter checked her over the longest. Felix took his time to sniff her, then went to her cage to sniff some more. Aurora sniffed her over and went right into her cage and snuggled into Vaida's bed. Dexter did eventually move into the cage too.
My heart which grew 3 sizes or more is shattered. All I can do is cry. I can hardly sleep, and I love my sleep. I know it wasn't just me and Rich here who loved her. I'm spending my time watching over Felix, because either the stress of losing Vaida has ignited an issue that hadn't quite surfaced yet (I'm worrying about insulinoma) or he's really in mourning for her. I know he was really interested in her and he tried so hard to get close with her, but he was too sniffy for her liking most of the time. She would get up and go to another bed.
I miss your little head popping up to greet me. I miss smooching your cute little spotted nose. I miss making the soupies you still enjoyed. I even miss checking your potty and getting excited with each improvement. I miss you baby girl. I hope this gets easier...
She made me work so hard to gain her trust, she made me fight her to get her fed and nourished. She made me clean up a lot of poop. But she made me so overjoyed! All the work in these few fleeting months was worth it to see her so happy and ferrety. Even though I'm crushed and I feel hopeless and helpless right now, I would do it all again, my sweet baby girl.
What am I going to do without you now? First day with me. 
She loved to snuggle my fuzzy, rainbow slippers. 
Very first raw rabbit soupie!
Enjoying the starch peanuts.
With pink squeaky dragon.
Meeting Dexter, sharing 'Tone.
Showering with Dexter.
Snuggling right up with Aurora.
Keeping an eye on Felix.
Smooching the Vaida babe.
I don't know what to with myself right now. I'm completely devastated.
<message edited by xxLAYUPxx on Monday, September 01, 2014 10:34 PM>