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Monty was a gentle little-bear sable with the biggest, round "I-love-you" eyes in the world. Madison was a dapper, dashing ebony mitt who looked as though he had shoe polish on his nose.
Monty could launch himself into space like a flying squirrel, and Madison could bounce around like a yo-yo when he was younger, as if he had invisible springs on his feet! On July 14, 2003, Monty crossed the Rainbow Bridge, and Madison joined his brother on March 25, 2004.They went through a lot, those brave little souls.
They were a couple of wonderful ferrets who loved being ferrets. . .and who truly loved us.
Our brave, sweet Beauregard was given to us in December of 2002 as a "rescue" who'd been living in a day care center. Beau coped valiantly with both blindness and cancer.
He met his brothers at the Bridge on June 17, 2006. We remember him with love, always.
In September of 2006, two new ferrets came home from the shelter--"Mickey and Zorro!"
We were concerned about Zorro because his summer fur never fully grew in. He had a bald patch on top of his head, and NO bib. We took him in for blood work which showed adrenal disease. Surgery showed a large right adrenal tumor wrapped around the vena cava. The vet told us basically that it was inoperable,although he offered to look for a specialist. The closest one was way up in Everett-- so we opted for treating hormonally.
After his first two monthly Lupron shots, his fur grew back and he looked like a normal ferret instead of a Sphinx cat!
Lupron eventually failed and he became bald again, so we gave him a melatonin implant which didn't seem to work at all as he became almost completely bald. He had right adrenal surgery and a deslorelin implant. We told him that "bald is beautiful" but we needed to take that Bad Thing out! Thanks to God and St. Francis, Zorro came home safely from the hospital.
And his fur grew back! He went from looking like a cute giant naked mole rat, to looking like a cute little seedy bum with "5 o'clock shadow" as the stubble of his new fur grew back in--to actually having REAL fur appear, including his dark leggings and the white "badge of honor" on his bib. It was great to see him jumping about and playing tag with his sister Mickey. We "learned" that his name was "Strong Jumper"--at least, that's how we think he thought of himself. How appropriate that we called him "Zorro" because it's almost the "human equivalent." He was happy to "be" his name for a while again.
We've "learned" that Michaela's name is roughly translatable to "The Industrious One" with undertones of "Athletic Girl"--anyway, that's how she seems to think of herself.
When they had their yearly exam at C-BEAM, we found out that Mickey has an enlarged heart and that Zorro had the beginnings of kidney problems. They both did well, and were both taking meds to help them cope with their respective conditions, and seemed to be responding well to their meds. Zorro had cryosurgery to remove some mast cell tumors--state of the art and so much easier than cutting off bits of his ear. He was such a good-natured little guy--he didn't seem to mind too much!
We had a recheck early in December which found that Zorro has a "skipped P wave" in his heartbeat, but other than that, he was doing okay. They both got new deslorelin implants, good for another two years. Zorro battled a clostridium problem with metronicazole 0.2 twice a day, prednison 0.1 and famontidine 0.1 once a day (evenings) He was good about the last two, but hated the metronidazole. He seemed to be feeling a bit perkier now, but was still not back to jumping about. However, he still stole chess pieces! We congratulated them both on being seven years old--incredible to think about.
Farewell, sweet boy--on the evening of Wednesday, April 10, 2013, Zorro crossed the Rainbow Bridge. He has a memorial at the WSU website, thanks to a donation from Burien Veterinary Hospital.
His sister, our beloved Mickey,had her share of health problems, ranign from surgery --a double-operations for both insulinomas and a right-adrenal tumor--to bone spurs, as well as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. She's still carefully hid her beloved toys safely away from us, right up to the very end! I wish she could have stayed young and healthy for a long, long time!
She was such a little sweetheart. We had to schedule her for insulinoma surgery because Dr. Maas said she had maybe 3 months to live without surgery and possibly a year or more with. The surgery was successful--insulinomas removed and a right adrenal tumor cryosurgically debulked. Her des implant seemed to keep the tumor inactive--pretty amazing. She was on heart meds and also on famontidine and metoclopramate, plus a new meds with milk thistle and sam-E in it, for liver enzymes. She also has osteophytes--little bone spurs--on her spine, that make it harder for her to stand up or sit up. But she still smiled and she had an excellent appetite, even at the last!
She got a new little toy fish that makse a bubbling sound when it's shaken--and she promptly took it away and hid it inside a tent! every so often, we would hear her shaking it and wonder if she made it make that bubble noise on purpose. . .
Our little princess left us on Sunday, October 5, 2014. She had an "event" where her head became tilted and she lost control of one side of her body, and was trying to move by rolling over on her back and then trying to right herself. . .and we knew it was time to let her leave us. Dance in peace, dear little friend, and know that you will always be loved, and never be forgotten. For ten months we turned our page princess-pink in your honor, my lady.
Special thanks to Burien Veterinary Hospital for donating to the WSU pet Memorial program so Mickey, too, can have a page to remember her by!
We have two new princesses, adopted Saturday, August 22nd, from the Washington Ferret Rescue and Shelter. Welcome, Olive and Regina--and thanks to all who helped them find their way to us! Both girls have had their distemper shots and rabies shots--although Olive had a reaction to the rabies shot. Fortunately, she had TWO shots to help her come out of it all right! Both girls are happy and enjoying playing tag in the tunnels in the living room--and we love having them with us. So nice to have ferrets in the house. . .So very nice to have these particular ferrets in the house--they are beautiful, and they are having a lot of fun with the plastic tunnel tube that Dad brought home and cleaned up for them.
Regina George had to be rushed to the CBEAM emergency as she had the runniest diarrhea I have ever seen. She was there overnight, severely dehydrated. She came home with multiple meds and got re-checked at Evergreen with Dr. Boutette, the same day that Olive got her des implant. She is much improved, and her poops are more normal, and she's active and playful and has her trademark healthy appetite. But oh--we were so concerned about our Princess for a while there!
Auntie Elly and I took both the Weasel Girls up to WFRS this year for another session of "Pictures with Santa" and they did well, although at one point Vondelle put Olive in "time-out" because she wouldn't stop digging.
We love you, girlfriends, and are so happy that you are here!
"May all your ferret tales end happily ever after!"
