having a special needs ferret

yesterday i read an interesting article: should you adopt a disabled pet? it got me thinking about my little girl nyddah. in meet the business: a lesson in ferret math i briefly mentioned how she had a cyst on her abdomen when i adopted her. what i didn't mention was the staff at the humane society told me to take her to my vet for the free exam, have them check out the cyst, and that if i wanted to return her for a voucher for use towards another pet i could do so. at the time i was somewhat numb to the remark, but thinking back on the situation it makes my heart ache. i looked at her papers the other day, including her intake form, and her overall health was scored 5/9. i wonder how close she came to being put to sleep rather than put up for adoption? if i hadn't found her that day how much longer would she have had?

here's the ugly truth of being a pet parent that no one really wants to admit to: every sweet, fuzzy, energetic, baby ball of fluff will eventually get to be an old pet. they will develop problems. they will need extra tender loving care as they age. they may need surgeries and medications. and, they will look at you one day and depend on you to end their life with dignity and compassion.

i've been down the road of aging pets many times. growing up i watched my dogs age and then give us one last tail wag as we put gathered around them while the vet gave them the injection that would end their life. i've had pet cats decline in health and made the decision that it was more humane to let them go even though it caused me heartache to see them leave this plane. my rats lived long, happy, boisterous rattie lives until they went to rat heaven. but, in a way, with my dogs, cats, and rats i was lucky: none of them really had any major health issues. we had a dog that had arthritis and had meds for that. another that we had to put on a diet, but nothing really extreme.

once again, i am a ferret person. i discovered that on july 2, 2008 when i brought sunny d-d and cassie into my home. with being a ferret mom comes certain things that don't necessarily come with being a cat mom or dog mom. unless your ferret dies due to an accident, runs away, or you give them away they will end up as a special needs ferret in one way or another. diseases are common in ferrets, but with the right treatment and care they do not have to be a death sentence.

so, back up a step. let's start with what they may come with as kits. two of the common "disabilities" are ones that i have had experience with in two of my ferrets. the first one is deafness. my ferret doodle is deaf. he was born that way. i think he knows that he is missing a sense which makes him all the more tough. but being deaf doesn't stop him. then, my little albino hospice ferret, daredevil, was blind. now, you'd think it would be better for a ferret to be deaf than blind, which, it's actually the opposite. ferrets have very poor eye sight to begin with so if they're blind they may run into things, but if they can hear and smell they'll be just fine. besides, my ferrets that can see and hear often run into things or fall off of furniture just because they're so ADHD and don't pay much attention.

it does seem that vision problems are more prevalent in albino ferrets than in the others. doodle is a dark eyed white (DEW), and deafness does seem to be higher in white ferrets or DEWs than in the other colors. i have heard that deafness is common in animals that are all white, or mostly white. i really don't know the reasoning behind that. but, it's interesting.

as far as caring for a deaf ferret there is not much really different in doodle's day to day care. the biggest thing to remember is that since he is deaf if you sneak up on him he may become startled and nip. he did that a lot when i first got him. but now that he's been with me 3 1/2 years we've gotten to know each other better. i'm not sure if he can feel the vibrations of my feet or if he smells me or just knows i'm there. but it's pretty much impossible for me to sneak up on him when he's awake. the only thing i've noticed is that when i'm waking them up to come out of their cage he is often the last one awake since he can't hear me calling to them and doesn't hear the others.

i did not have daredevil long enough to become an expert at having a blind ferret. the biggest thing i discovered was just to make sure to bring him to the litter boxes and then not move the boxes from that spot. he became very adept at navigating the house and figuring out where everything was. also, i tended to not put him on the couch since he couldn't see where the edge was.

the health concerns that come as ferrets age are fairly standard. every ferret that lives to a "ripe old age" will most likely end up with adrenal disease and or insulinoma. both of these can be quite serious, but, they also can be quite manageable too with proper vet care and an observant ferrent.

at base adrenal disease is a hormone problem. the adrenal levels wind up becoming elevated. ferrets with adrenal disease can have hair loss, course coat, itchiness, increased ferrety smell and many other symptoms. when i got my ferrets back in 2008 i heard the only treatment for adrenal disease was surgery. now there are other treatments. currently four of our ten ferrets have been treated for adrenal disease and we suspect that another two need to be. the treatment we subscribe to is a melatonin implant. our vet does not like doing surgery on ferrets unless absolutely necessary because there are a lot of risks that come with cutting open such a tiny critter. i don't like the thought of doing surgery when there is a less invasive treatment with results that are just as successful. currently nyddah, doodle, sundance, and bandit (pictured in the skull bed) have melatonin implants. smokey should get one and possibly cassie too.

insulinoma is another big illness in the ferret world. it's basically a blood sugar issue. instead of the sugars being too high like in diabetes they get too low. i've read online some people treat this condition with surgery. as mentioned above this isn't something i would consider unless necessary. the main treatment i've heard of for insulinoma is medication. currently one of my ferrets, nyddah, has insulinoma. she's on prednisone twice a day to manage her sugars. two of the ferrets that i've ferretsat luna (pictured in the alligator bed, who recently crossed the rainbow bridge 12/27/11) and dexter were on prednisone for insulinoma. the biggest thing with insulinoma is the ferrets can crash and if they do have their sugars get too low they'll need emergency vet care immediately. once again, this is where it's a good idea to be a doting ferrent and really know how they normally behave.

lymphoma. i only mention this one because this is what cause miss podo's (pictured at right) death back in may. ferrets are very stoic critters. they don't show pain, they don't show weakness. so by the time her behavior had changed it was too late to really do anything for her. she presented with some weight loss. i took her into the vet. we did an exam, did four sets of x-rays (including one with barium), but none of the tests were conclusive as to what was happening with her. i had the hard choice: experimental surgery or medication. the surgery could tell us what was wrong and fix it if it was minor, if it was major then we'd put her to sleep on the table. the meds may or may not work since we didn't know what was going on.

i meditated on it and asked my angels for guidance. the answer came to me that if i opted for surgery she wouldn't come home from it. i treated her with prednisone and pain meds. i gave her all the TLC i could and did everything to let her know she was loved. in the end she passed away in her favorite bed, at home, while fry & i were at his folks' house on memorial day. after she passed away i consented for my vet to do a post mortem on her to figure out what was wrong. during the exams she'd kept feeling something in podo's belly, but it wasn't anything she'd ever felt before. just like the x-rays didn't give a clear image. so she wanted to figure out what was wrong. and it was lymphoma. even if i had done surgery when i first brought podo in it wouldn't've saved her and she would have died at the vet's office instead of at home. i'm grateful she was at home.

tumors, cysts, and all kinds of other things can also effect ferrets. i bring this up because nyddah has an unknown cyst on her lower abdomen. she's had it since i got her 3 1/2 years ago. we drain it every so often. we've done half a dozen tests on the cells from the draining and no conclusion on what it is. yes, the cyst makes her waddle a bit. but surgery is not an option because there is a good chance that removing the cyst would leave her incontinent since it's right near her urethra. that's not a change i want to take, so we just manage.

finally: dementia. i can hear the crazy says what?! all the way over here. ferrets as they age, like any other animal, can develop cognitive issues. and one of them is dementia. until rather recently, like within the past five months, i didn't know about this. until i started to notice that nyddah was acting just, well, odd. she wakes up and runs to the poop pad, then does like five laps before relieving herself, which she never did before. she walks up to fry and i, will look up at us with those big fuzzy eyes, we'll pick her up and then she doesn't want to be held. she doesn't want food. she doesn't want wysong (the insanely expensive cold pressed food we buy just for her). no to duck soup. no to water. no to ferretone. she's just, in general, confused.

i finally asked my vet about it, who has personally has ferrets for like nearly 20 years and has a business of her own (business as in group of ferrets). and she and her husband confirmed that over their years of ferrenthood they've had a few ferrets that suffered from dementia. on the upside, their ferrets with dementia became nippy and ill tempered. nyddah is still just as sweet as ever, just confused. kind of like maw-maw on raising hope. it does break my heart a little when she looks up at me and i can see in her eyes she still knows who i am, and she's wanting something from me but i just have no clue.

summary: there's a lot that you may have to encounter as a ferrent. medications, implants, surgery, and who knows what else. but really, it's the same thing as living a day to day life. each day is a surprise, a gift, a blessing. it's really what you do with that blessing that defines the impact on your life. i choose to take all of it and cherish it. it all makes me who i am.

as for nyddah. well. so she has a cyst. and adrenal disease. and insulinoma. and dementia. knowing all that now would i take her back to the humane society? never. never ever ever. being her ferrent has meant the world to me. she saved my life. each time i get a ferret kiss from her it melts my heart and makes my day. she's a precious gift from the universe. i am always and forever grateful i have her. adopting a special needs ferret was the best thing i've ever done. and she's happy, loved, pampered, & semi-healthy. sure, she has problems. most days she doesn't even know she's a ferret. but because of the steroids she looks fabulous! she now even thinks she enjoys baths.

time to go. doodle knows i'm blogging about him. he's attention seeking. it's amazing, the ferret can't hear but always knows when i'm talking about him.

new teminology used in this post:
DEW ~ acronym for dark eyed white. DEW ferrets are typically characterized by being either all white with dark eyes, or mostly white (meaning all but slight coloring such as a dark tail) with dark eyes. dark eyes are those that are black or burgundy in color, but not red.
ferretsat / ferretsitting ~ like baby sitting except with ferrets. there is also typically a lot more poop and biting inolved.
ferretone ~ a liquid supplement for ferrets sometimes called "the ferret crack" or "ferret moonshine." give a little to a ferret and they will be ecstatic.
kit ~ noun. name for a baby ferret.
wysong ~ a wonderful all natural whole food for ferrets that is extremely expensive, like $40-something per lb. my ferrets eat better than i do.