King and Queen's Terrible Tail

This is a tough story for me to tell, and will likely be tough for you to read.  It's definitely a PG13 SadTail. 

~ Click on any photo for a full size image ~

I received a message on 11/17/06 from a woman who needed to surrender two ferrets.  I returned the call and left a message, but I didn't hear back.  Finally I called again and was able to reach the woman on 11/28/06.  We spoke briefly about the ferrets:  she wasn't sure how long it had been since she got them, but she figured about 1.5 years ago, didn't know their age, didn't know much about them, wasn't sure what brand of food she was eating, etc.  I didn't think I would get much more information, so I scheduled the surrender for 11/30/06 at 2:00 pm.   

When the woman arrived, everything seemed fine.  I put the carrier on the sofa next to me and started filling out the paperwork.  The woman mentioned she had moved before Thanksgiving (11/23/06) and that the ferrets had been staying in the small carrier since that time.  ???  Ok, so I thought I'd better get the critters out to take a look - I was now a bit worried.  As I reached into the carrier, the woman started to mention "I think something is wrong with the white one."  I bypassed the sable and reached for the white ferret and was shocked when I felt that he was cold and stiff, then I saw that his face was stuck in a pile of poo (picture of carrier, his face was stuck in the back corner pile of poo).  I pulled him out and it was clear that he was in agonal seizure.  He was covered with filth and the woman said that she had been giving him a bath daily to clean him up.  The poop was black as can be; clearly digested blood from terrible ulcers.  He was cold, stiff, pulled around to the posture he's showing in the photos on the blue towel, and he was having a seizure.  I exclaimed something like "What the hell?!?" and the woman asked "What do you think is wrong with him?"  I'll bet it took me half a second to come up with an answer..."He's dying!"  The woman exclaimed "Oh" and ran over to the door to put her shoes on and leave.  I told her to freeze and ran to get emergency treatments.

 I didn't expect I would be able to save the critter, but I had to try.  I gave him sub q dextrose infused fluids and a large dose of supportive steroids.  Fortunately I was able to drip the steroids in and, with a bit of vigorous rubbing, his swallow mechanism did seem to get the meds down.  I then warmed up a heating pad and got him into a nest, but as you can see from the blue towel photos, I wasn't having much luck (I took those photos nearly an hour later).  I then pulled out the other ferret from the carrier.  The ignorant cow standing in my front room just kept talking..."I changed their food about a week ago."  I asked "Did they eat ANY of it?"  Her lame reply:  "Doesn't look like it."  The sable female was absolutely emaciated and barely able to stand.  I was rather short and cross with the abuser, mainly because how else could I possibly address her?  I asked many questions; things like:  How in the hell did these two get into this condition?  Did you not notice how emaciated this female is?  Did you not notice that the boy was DYING?  Did you not think to mention 2 days ago when we spoke on the phone that they were in such bad shape?  Hell, did you not think to call this morning and ask to come earlier because he was sick?  Did you look at them at all after packing them into the carrier with the rest of your crap for moving day?  I told the woman in no uncertain terms that I was certain the boy would die and the girl would likely join him as well, based on past experience.  After such a stress, it can be awfully hard for one ferret to fight on alone.  I barked at the woman that, had she bothered to bring them BEFORE she decided to neglect them to death, I likely would have been able to help them - but now it was certainly too late for the boy.

As I said, the woman just kept on piping up...she asked if I wanted anything.  I was incredulous.  "Do I want anything?"  She replied "I have some litter and some of their stuff in the car."  I replied:  "Do I want anything...hmmm...let's see...how about I want for people to not neglect their animals to death!"  She stool there like a deer caught in headlights.  I asked the ignorant cow if she had children; yes, she did.  I asked her to make sure to go home and properly explain what happened with the ferrets - and to make sure to hit all the important points.  Mom got some ferrets 'cause the kids said they wanted some.  She found someone who didn't care about them to give her two ferrets, who she brought home and didn't think much about after a while.  Then when the family decided to move, they were reminded of those damn LIFE FORMS that they didn't want anyway; after all, the kids likely forgot about the ferrets shortly after they arrived.  So Mom decided to pack up the LIFE FORMS into a small box, where they would get to live in their own filth for the next who-knows-how-long, until she could find the time and a place to dispose of them.  Meanwhile, because Mom was such a heartless waste of oxygen, she decided to ignore the face that they weren't eating the new brand of food she had chosen (likely because it was on sale) which caused them to begin to starve to death.  For some added misery, she let this starvation go on for so long that the boy not only starved, but developed terrible ulcers, which she also ignored.  No, Mom never considered taking the ferrets to the doctor - 'cause hey, it's not like she noticed that they were starving to death anyway.  Finally, after neglecting the boy to death and subjecting the girl to an uncertain future as a result of her torture, she dumped them off like so much trash shortly before the boy died.  After all, who wants to spend an afternoon watching a helpless animal die miserably?  Not Mom, that's for sure!  And then, when I just didn't have any rant left, I told the woman to get the fuck out of my house and literally shoved her out the door.

 The critters arrived at 2:00 pm, right on schedule.  I gave King his emergency treatments a few minutes later; after nearly an hour they didn't have much effect.  His temperature was still terribly low.  His posture had relaxed a bit, so I was hopeful for a minute!  I decided to get him in the sink for a long, warm soak, since he was still so cold.  I ran the bath and washed away all the poop, then I filled the sink again and just held him in the warm water to hopefully warm him up.  

As I was washing his belly, I noticed the skin was very discolored.  I was alarmed to notice how dark his feet were, and frankly his whole body was red/purple.  From the amount of blood on him when he arrived, plus his poor color, I worried that he already had an intestinal perforation and was therefore septic.  As he lay in the bath, trying to warm up, I brought out all the antibiotics I could get into him.  Again, his swallow worked, but he was still cold and unresponsive.  

After about 15 minutes, I brought King out of the bath and began his blow dry.  I had some towels from the dryer that were warm and I reached for my curling/blow dryer thingie.  It's a large diameter curling iron, sort of, that's perforated all over and covered with soft bristles.  So you can brush and dry even the most decrepit weezil with the soft bristles, which is so helpful when you have to bathe a sick'un.  The constant blowing heat gets critter dry quickly and also keeps most of the body warm, since the blower is nearly as long as the weezil!  The photo above on the right is after his wash and fluff.  Notice he's no longer pulled around, so the seizures had stopped...but low glucose clearly wasn't his only problem.  After King was all dry, I decided to shave his tummy before I wrapped him up.  I couldn't figure out what was going on with the skin on his belly.  I ended up shaving his abdomen and even the tops of his feet, to check the color.  As you can see, he was covered with scabs.  I assume that's from burns from the filth he was forced to live in, left untreated over a long period of time.  I also noticed severe ulcers in his mouth, which is also often a sign of impending doom.  But I was going to keep trying, so I wrapped him up, papoose-style, and tucked him into a pillow. He looked so peaceful and cute all tucked up, I thought I'd better take a photo while I could...so this poor fellow did get his portrait taken after all, as a memento that he had once lived.

Once he was all tucked into clean, warm binkies and perched on his soft pillow, plus some heating bottles, I went into tend his poor little sis Queenie.  Little spunk couldn't walk well because she was so weak from starvation, but she sure tried to be perky!  She gobbled down much Nutrical and as you can see from the photos below, she is quite the little ham!   She also tried to eat some kibble later that afternoon, and took meds like a CHAMP!  I was so encouraged...would she be able to come back?

Over the next few hours I couldn't do anything else for King, except wait and watch.  I brougth him into the ferret room where Queenie was hanging out, and made him a poofy nest filled with heating bottles and fluffy binkies.  I sort of tucked his papoose into a sack and propped up his head so he was laying on heating bottles but was also in the sack, and after a hearty meal Queenie came over and checked him out thoroughly, then went deeper into the sack and curled right up to him.  But sadly, as you can see from the photo when I unwrapped King to check his color, things were looking terrible.  My Grandmother's feet turned black like that before she died...and I knew what was coming.  King died at 8:00 pm, laying next to his sister, finally clean, warm and cared for.  Fat lot of good it did for him at that late hour, 'eh?  

Queenie continued her recovery for six days - and made a new friend in Miss Angie, who was just getting back on her feet at the time - but then stress caught up with her and she crashed.  At first she just seemed depressed, but she quickly developed frightening ulcers, so we nursed her in earnest.  She tried, but she just kept going downhill.  Finally, after 3 days where I was certain she would be dead the next time I checked on her, when I went to see her first thing in the morning, she was at the kibble bowl!  I nearly fell over!  This little champ has SUCH a positive attitude, sometimes I just can't believe how strong she is!!!

 Queenie still isn't out of the woods yet, but I must say I'm just pleased as punch that she seems to know I'm trying to help, and that there is happy life ahead.  If she doesn't make a full recovery, as least she's known companionship, love and all the TLC we could smother her with!  But enough of the doom and gloom...I am planning on Miss Queenie making a FULL recovery!  And once she does, she's going to need a very special home.  I am truly looking forward to that happy day.  :)

Shelter Mom Nanci, December 17, 2006

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