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Bear & Lydia, AKA Luna
• Surrendered to the Shelter on November 14, 2020. They found a Forever Home on August 8, 2021! |
February 28, 2024:
Hi! You were on my mind to check in! She has been doing well. When we went in for her check up at the end of last month, the vet said she looked good, her lungs didn’t sound any worse, and her BG was 94, so she said she was “beating the odds so far “. I have noticed her coughing a little bit more, and she was a little stumbling one time, so I’m just watching to see if she continues to stumble occasionally, and then I may just up the dose of pred. But otherwise the vet just wanted me to check in in another month or so and let me know how she is doing unless she needs to be seen.
She takes her medicine like a champ – the pred goes in her soup, and she actually takes her furosemide and enalapril straight out of the dropper! She actually looks forward to those medicines because they are chicken flavored from the compound Pet Pharmacy In Victor. They are a great Pharmacy If you ever need compound medication! They will actually ship for free, which is nice because I am an hour away.
January 20, 2024:
We received your package last night- thank you so much! She continues to be doing better- she is eating on her own, but sometimes needs a little coaxing to do so. She does seem to be shaking more than normal – we have noticed that over the last week or so. I’m not sure if she is nervous, cold, etc. – she usually does shiver when she is excited, but I don’t think that is it. I would say she is not 100%, but she is definitely Closer every day. I know she is not a spring chicken anymore, so some of her behavior may just be age. All in all, she is on the mend and we are happy. I did hear back from the vet office - They will be sending in a 5 mg tablet of prednisolone- She is supposed to take a quarter of it every 24 hours – I’m thinking I will give her a quarter in the morning and a quarter in the evening. She was busy today – and she did eat kibble! 13 out of one dish, and then I didn’t bother counting the other dish – but she also add out of that one. She is eating kibble as we speak – although I do believe I have probably created a monster, as she prefers to eat out of my hand, lol She still doesn’t care to eat the soup on her own – so I am still giving her the medicines via syringe Just to make sure she gets it.
Shelter Mum's Response: Okay they are sending 5 ml what I've sent you is 1 ml. a 1/4 tab in am and 1/4 tab pm is just the way it should be given. I think you will find Luna will be less likely to fight you. This is very good news. That's her way of thanking you for making her feel better. We have one little girl that I have to set on my lap holding the bowl of soup until she starts eating it, then I can set her down in front of the bowl. We do the meds/dropper once they have had that I set a bowl of soup in front of them most of the time they dive into the soup. Thanks for the update.
January 17, 2024:
Haven’t heard from the vet yet – I was honestly nervous to see what I was going to come home to after work yesterday – I saw absolutely NO movement from her on the ring camera all day. When I came home, she was fine and she had just been sleeping and had only used the bathroom just out of the view of the camera (but she did not eat or drink for 11 hours) She actually got up and ate some kibble and seemed pretty good. I was able to get her prednisone and furosemide in her last night – she did not get up much last night either – I just finished giving her prednisone and enalapril, and she did eat some soup on her own. I have to feed her by dropper at first and then she will eventually drink the soup – I will leave her kibble again today and some soup and we’ll see how she does!
January 16, 2024:
I was able to give Luna three or four dropper of soup last night before I went to bed (spread out over a few hours) She was pretty active last night – she did go to the food dish quite a few times, but I could not tell if she ate. This morning she did eat soup on her own, And I did give her a dropper full as well. She also did get her prednisone. She did actually eat a few pieces of dog kibble, and I’m hoping her appetite keeps going up – she was over by the food In our kitchen quite a few times- She didn’t eat every time, but the fact that she did snag a few pieces to eat it as an improvement. I also did talk to Lakeside- Dr Licata is at a conference, so they are still waiting to hear back from her to go ahead with the prescriptions. I just emailed them letting them know she isn’t eating and she can’t stand the grape flavor- I asked if they have any unflavored pill I can crush up to put in her soup.
January 15, 2024:
So I’m just not sure what to do – she will not eat on her own – whether the soup is in the flat saucer, regular bowl, or any kibble. I saw her on our ring camera throughout the day, and she was pretty active, a quick stumble, here and there – but she does go over to the food like she’s possibly hungry, but Never eats. I got home a little early from work and tried some soup, she takes a quick lick of my finger, and then stops and kind of stares, and then she runs off – I mentioned to the vet when she was there last that she does this when she gets toward the end of the food – we are thinking that maybe she feels nauseous. But now she does this even after just a lick or two. I even made a fresh batch of soup just in case the other one was old. The only time she will eat is if she licks off my finger, and that’s only a few licks. Our food has not changed. It’s been the same bags – the soup is not changed. I’m just not sure. I do feel like I have traumatized her getting the medicine in her -when I pick her up I think she feels like I’m gonna try to get her medicine in her, either that or try to make her eat- which kind of is the case – since she is not eating on her own, I keep trying, and offering her food.
I emailed the vet early this morning, and still have not heard back. Sometimes they don’t get back to me till the end of the day – if I don’t hear from them I will just call tomorrow on my lunch break. Any thoughts? I do not know what her numbers are. I have started giving her prednisone twice a day – she did eat a little bit of soup yesterday in addition to just licking it off my finger, but only one time did she really eat it on her own – how often should she be eating to get her numbers up? And how much? I am not proficient at giving the medicine, as she still squirms every time – I get it done, but then, of course she’s super stressed out after. Do I just do the same thing and hold her under my arm to give her soup if she does not want it? She still has enough spunk that she runs away very quickly – so it’s not like she’s moving slow that I can get it done – She fights it the whole time.
Right now she is taking .1ml prednisolone (15mg/5ml)-are prednisolone and prednisone are interchangeable ? She was only on it once a day as prescribed by the vet – but since her not doing well this weekend, I went ahead and just added .1 in the evening as well. I was able to give her probably about .8/.9 mils of food and once she started eating some of it, she didn’t fight as much. So I will try again soon.
Shelter Mum's Response: Do you have any idea what her #'s are? It sounds to me her BG is still low enough to cause nausea, as long as she has upset tummy she is not going to eat anything you offer her. I'm sure she is hungry but the tummy is upset. I don't believe the food or soup is the cause of her refusing to eat. When they get to this point the only thing you can do is dropper feed her, when ours get to this point I dropper feed with meds, I insist they take a ml. the only way you are going to get her numbers up is to force feed meds and soup. The saucers are packed and ready to ship tomorrow. I expect this is not what you wanted to hear. Prednisone tablet form - Prednisolone is liquid - yes interchangeable as long as the same dose given.
January 14, 2024:
I have the flat saucer i use for her salmon oil that I used for her soup- all of the stores i went to yesterday did not have any- but i can order off if Amazon- i will just use the salmon oil saucer for now , but may order more. she did eat out of the flat saucer a little, but she likes her soup pretty runny, so when the liquid was done and there was just the sludge left, she was not interested. This morning she ate her soup out of a small bowl- and she actually ate about 1/3 of it. But hasn’t had any since 8 am. I have offered soup again this afternoon, but she was not interested. I will try again in a little bit.
Shelter Mum's Response: It takes practice to get them so you can keep them from wiggling. I think she would be happier if she was on 1 mg tablet. They do have an attitude when they don't get their way or are made to do something they don't want to. a quick note don't buy any saucers, I have many, I will pack some up and get them out to you. Our kids don't like sludge either. more later.
January 13, 2024:
I was able to get in the enalapril last night asking with her Pred- she did take some more soup, but only from a syringe or lick it off my finger. She is still not eating kibble. Her walking is much improved and she is up walking around and checking things out. I’m still trying to get her dose of prednisone in her, but again she thrashes pretty good when I try to give that to her, I don’t know how to get it in her mouth without her flailing. I got half in this morning and I will keep trying. I just take breaks as it stresses her out. But she seems much improved – I just have to make sure I keep trying soup and get that pred in her- If I can’t get some of the CHF medicine in her, then, so be it. Hoping that once her appetite gets back up, I can continue that – but obviously the low blood sugar is the main thing. I’m worried about right now.
Shelter Mum's response: Try a flat saucer, holding her on your lap. are you using 5 ml dropper? When I have a fur kid that stops eating I fill the bulb with their meds then 1/2 fill the bulb with soup. I shake it so the med can't be tasted. Try this; tuck her under your left arm pit, putting your hand around her neck just enough to keep her from struggling. That's how I do it when I have a ferret that fights when I'm trying to give them meds. At this point don't worry about kibble until you can get her BG under control. Try the under the arm pit trick. it keeps them from flailing about. I agree with that as well. the Pred is the priority at this time. See if you can get the vet to prescribe 1 mg tablets. They are less expensive and no order. I crush ours put it the soup and they have no idea they are getting meds. Yes getting her numbers up enough so her tummy is no longer upset is the priority, once her tummy feels better she will start eating again.
Owner response: Thank you for those tips! I just was able to give her the other half of her bread – I did hold her under my armpit with my left hand – she still did squirm-I held her head and neck gently in my left hand, but she is a strong, feisty one! I had to reposition a few times – but we got it done! She was not happy after, and was pushing things around in her room, lol – all I picture is a toddler throwing a tantrum🤣 But I guess the fact that she has some spunk and fight is good, lol.
I’m heading out to the store to grocery shop – I will look for a flat saucer dish. And I will email the vet to see about Pred tablets – that does make sense. Thanks, as always for your tips! And yes, I have a five mil dropper – that is what I have been using, and, shaking it up with the soup definitely works better!
January 12, 2024:
We have been very lucky to have had bear and Luna in our lives. And I feel I may have jinxed ourselves by saying Luna takes the soup and medicine. This last day and a half she has not wanted to eat: including her soup/medicine – I have been been able to get some of it in her with the syringe, but today I see her blood glucose must be very low as she is having trouble walking straight. I did try to get some karo syrup in her, and also just straight medicine via syringe, but she still has enough fight in her to make that very difficult. I will keep trying every so often but she hasn’t been wanting the dog food or really any food to eat in the last day and a half. Any other tips to try to get food and water and her when she is fighting it would be greatly appreciated!
Shelter Mum's response: Her tummy is upset because of the low BG. trying to feed her soup by dropper is about the only thing you can do. Kero will only make her BG worse. see if you can get her to eat slightly watered down chicken baby food, stage 2 warmed some. Protein will help get the BG up not Kero. Is she on liquid Pred? if so try getting that between her cheek and gum. Let me know how it goes.
Owner's response: So, after checking three stores, the only stage two chicken baby food that I could find was apple/chicken, I got that along with two stage ones – chicken with chicken broth, and chicken with chicken gravy.
I tried all three warmed up with a little bit of water. She seemed to like the smell of the apple with chicken, and would try that a few times, but didn’t seem to care for it. The chicken with chicken broth, she didn’t even care for the smell, and the chicken with gravy, she tried a little taste, but didn’t care for it. She did get up and drink quite a bit, and her walking is not as wobbly. I will keep trying, and now I have the feet of trying to get her two other medicines in her. I still offered dry food, but she is not interested
January 7, 2024:
Happy new year! She seems to be doing pretty well. We went for a check up just after Christmas- she had only been on her CHF medicine for two weeks, so that part the doctor said she still sounded the same – but otherwise looked well.
I did mention that she was a little stumbling the last couple days prior to her appointment, so they did check blood glucose. she was low, in the 40s, so we did add prednisolone in as well. She takes her medicines well: two medicines in the morning soup, two medicines in the evening soup. She doesn’t seem to like to eat in her room much more – but I know she eats well when we let her out – she seems to prefer to eat food next to the dog food, and she likes to sneak some pieces, lol. The doctor said that was fine at this point, as long as she is eating.
Every once in a while she still coughs, and there was one day, not too long ago, that she was really coughing a lot. Otherwise , you wouldn't notice anything was off with her. She still likes to explore a lot when she isn’t sleeping. And sometimes she still likes to play for a little bit. We are happy knowing that she is happy.
December 8, 2023:
Today is a good day – eating and drinking and going to the bathroom well. She does sleep a lot, but she also doesn’t have a playmate anymore – we just let her out in the morning as soon as we are up and she is allowed to roam the house as she would like – we prop her door open so that she can go back up there whenever she wants. I try to bring her downstairs and play a little every day – sometime she does and sometimes she doesn’t – it’s usually only for a few minutes, because I’m just not as fun as Bear was. And actually, we are playing in our basement right now(Finished basement). She’s pretty active and pretty fired up, lol-Nice to see!
December 7, 2023:
Hi Brenda,
Hope you guys are doing well. Just wanted to fill you in on Luna. Sunday we noticed Luna wasn’t eating and she stumbled a few times. When we called the vet on Monday, they didn’t have openings, but they offered us to drop her off Tuesday so she could be seen when they had time. Upon exam, Dr Licata noticed low heart rate and was worried about heart disease- they were unable to perform the X-ray and blood work that day (had emergency surgery that took long), so they kept her overnight so they could do the testing Wednesday- All blood work came back normal, but X-ray did show enlarged heart confirming congestive heart failure. The Dr prescribed 2 medications, and we are waiting for them to come in the mail (had to use a compound pharmacy). All things considered- she is home and doing fine- she was very hungry when she came home and seemed normal. the Dr said not a good long term prognosis, but we are just going to give her the best life we can, for however long she has the Dr said no restrictions and to let her just be happy. Just wanted to let you know.
November 10, 2023:
Thank you so much for the sympathy card for Bear. He is now home with us.
November 6, 2023:
Bear is finally at peace. I brought him up to Lakeside for a 10:30 appointment. Thank you for all the care and love you give to all the fur babies. I will continue to keep you updated on Luna.
November 5, 2023:
So Bear is not doing well. Thursday night he had started eating less amount, and less frequently and then another episode. I really thought he was going to pass away. He did the same regiment as before: drop her and his medicine and him, and I held him somewhere upright on my chest, so it was easier for him to breathe. It again lasted roughly about eight hours.
So Friday, while he snapped out of his unresponsiveness, he was visibly much weaker and more exhausted than the previous times. She has struggled to want to eat at this point, and it keeps declining. We are now giving his medicine by dropper, although this process is painstakingly slow as we can only give him the medicine when he is more restful so he does not fight it. Otherwise, it is extremely stressful on him and us.
I did call the vet Friday and emailed them letting her know what was going on. She was not in the office Friday, but was going to be in Saturday and we were told they would let us know next steps. I explained the dire situation – letting them know it has been hard to feed him and get medicine in, and wondering what we should do.
Saturday morning we still had not heard back, so Pat called and let them know we were waiting for next steps, and that we are an hour away if she wants to see him. They are only open from 8 to 12 on Saturday, – we are not sure if this is the point where he needs to be put down so he does not suffer, or if we do something different with medicine and food, or if she would even want to see him. Unfortunately, we never heard back: neither email or phone call which has been frustrating.
So, at this point, we have just been nursing him as best we can - he seems to be very uncomfortable and tends to roam (dragging his belly on the ground, and there’s even a little rubber spot on his belly ) and want to put his head up. I have tried to hold him a lot: he does seem to be comforted by that - I swaddle him, lightly, and hold him and walk around with him or rock him. That is usually when he can be the most restful. I have only been able to get him to eat once today and it was not much. He ate at 3 AM this morning, and just now I was able to get him to take a few licks of soup at 4:30. Again, I have been trying to dropper food as well, but he refuses that as well, so it is hard to get the dropper near him, unless he is in his resting state – which is infrequently.
We are at the point we know the end is very near – we just don’t want him to suffer, so we continue to try to get food and water and medicine and him: yet at the same time, I know when we do that we are prolonging the death, and I just don’t know if we are making it worse. I wish there was just some thing I could give him to make him more comfortable. I am going to try to call the vet again Monday, or have Pat do that as his job is a little easier to call.
Unfortunately, Pat and I have to go back to work tomorrow, so he will not have the tending to that. We have been able to give him all this weekend.
Any thoughts and prayers for a little guy would be appreciated. And, of course, any tips!
October 28, 2023:
I was actually going to email you last night, but wanted to wait to see how things went into the morning. A lot has happened in the last few week or so. I have been working with Dr. lacata to get Bear’s blood glucose regulated. I have gone a few times, and his blood glucose was still remaining around 50/60. As of 2 Fridays ago his BG was still low around 40 something. He then reverted back to stumbling a little bit, and not really wanting to eat his kibble again. We then went back to the prednisone twice a day, and she also put him on diazoxide twice a day. We started that last Tuesday. We were then instructed to call a few days later to let us know how he was doing. Last Friday his appetite had been on and off, but he would always eat his soup. His belly had seem to get bigger, and he was having trouble walking, seemingly because of the extra weight on his belly (kind of dragging his belly and using his back legs, but it looked more like he was swimming). I got him in on Wednesday to be seen. Blood glucose was the best had been around 110/120. Dr. lacata said she could feel his organs and felt that his belly most likely is retaining fluid because of the prednisone, and she’s worried about liver failure, I think is what she said. At this point he was still eating soup, and while he doesn’t get around real good, we decided to try to cut the prednisone down to once a day to see if we can get the fluid retention to go down. At this point feeling like just doing what we can and getting what we can for a good rest of his life until he’s ready to go.
He wasn't even down more than 24 hours of being on the lower prednisone and he had another one of those episodes where he was drooling, struggling to breathe,limp etcc. Same scenario as before- all of the Emergency Vets : no one had an exotic vet on hand. I called Vet triage again, and they helped me get him in a more upright position to help his breathing, and told me to make sure I go back to the twice a day medicine for both. Again gave a little carp syrup in case it was just more BG. I was able to drip his medicines in him with his dropper overtime. Obviously, he was not going to be able to eat any soup. I did that and laid with him last night, and would occasionally feed him droppers of water to try to get fluids in him as well. He did the rapid breathing on and off for hours (about 8 hours). And finally at 4:30 this morning - he got up and went to use the bathroom and I was able to give him some soup. Obviously very weak, even considering what he had been- but he was responsive.
Lakeside opens up at 8 o’clock, and I will call and let them know what happened, and see if dr lacata wants to see him today, or wait to see how he does being back on the meds every 12 hours. At this point, I do feel the end is near for him, and while I will do everything I can to help him, I obviously don’t want him to suffer – I will let you know when I talk to the doctor. Luna is doing well thank goodness!
October 4, 2023:
We are doing well! I feel like he has gained a little bit of weight back, so that is good. He still seems more perked up and eats kibble . I give him soup every morning, and evening he has soup with his medicine.
We Recheck his blood glucose again on the 13th. Dr. lacata is wondering if maybe he is just in the early stages of insulinoma, so that the when we upped his Pred and gave him the Karo syrup, it was too much. I did ask what his numbers were when she guest saw him, and she said they were around 600! Then when we did the recheck it was around 50.
Luna also had her check up and got a clean bill of health. Hope you guys are doing well, too!
September 27, 2023:
Good morning! Just wanted to give you an update on Bear:
bears blood work came back only high glucose and mild dehydration. The doctor wanted us to stop prednisone with a quick taper. Per her instructions, he was done on Friday and has not had any since. My husband took him for another blood glucose test yesterday-the vet tech said it was low (48), and she would talk to the doctor, and the doctor would get back to us about treatment from here.
Honestly, knock on wood, he has been the best that he has been in a while. He is eating kibble, but I still give him soup morning and evening, and leave a little for him during the day – sometimes he eats that, sometimes he does not. He has perked up and is a more active than he previously had been. We did let them know We are interested in a teeth cleaning if he is physically given the OK to do so – we did look at his teeth at his first appointment, and he did have a lot of tartar and some red gums. I will keep you updated. Luna has her first visit on Saturday and will let you know how it went!
Hopefully your other little guy did well Friday!
September 18, 2023:
It was the assistant who came back into the room and gave me the update when she brought bear back from the blood draw. She did not say how high. She just mentioned that they were not sure what was causing him to tank like this and they wanted to wait for the other blood work to come back from the lab. She said that usually takes a good week.
When Dr. Licata did the physical exam, she did say bear has a huge spleen: even compared to other ferrets larger spleens. In fact she made the comment “he’s all spleen “explaining that all she could really feel was his spleen. She did not seem concerned with that at the moment, she did mention we could always do another ultrasound, but she has someone who specializes in ferret ultrasounds I think-but she wanted to see what the blood work showed first. This was also when we were thinking it was insulinoma – Basically, we are just in a holding pattern until we get the blood work back: I’m not really sure what all they check for, but they mentioned they would call when they get the results in.
August 30, 2023:
He is doing well! I have kept the food separate: Bear likes the Marshall food, best, and Luna likes the kitten food best ☺️ I have also kept the camera in their room – we enjoy watching their activity, and that way I can monitor both of their eating – sometimes I wonder if they aren’t going to the bathroom as much as they used to, but they are both acting well. I do have some of your duck soup left that you made, but I also experimented with just grinding up their kibble and adding more water, and they love that as well, so that is good to know!
I did trim Luna‘s nails tonight, and I did notice one of her teets is protruding a little, and another one looks like it is just starting to protrude – the other ones I don’t really see. Could that be from her rubbing her belly on things? (she rubs her belly on anything she can, lol) or is that the beginning of adrenal disease? Again, she is acting totally normal for herself, but I know you mentioned for me to look for that. I am going to try to call tomorrow to see if they have any cancellations for tomorrow or Friday for Bear. I still have yet to change their annual to the new vet as well, but when I call tomorrow, I will do that.
August 26, 2023:
I was going to ask you if I should still contact them while he is on medication and doing well, or should I wait until he is off the medication to see how he is doing? He is still settling in but it’s getting better. He has been eating the Marshall food no problem now , and I have slipped him a few of the Purina one, and he is eating that as well. He is definitely back to feeling himself, and finishing his treat first and trying to sneak Luna’s, lol. He is now even taking the salmon oil, which he was refusing before. I know the prednisone will usually make them feel better, but I was going to ask you if you thought this all had to do with the food, or you think merely coincidence? If the ultrasound person contacts us, should we hold off on that? He will be on prednisone for a month- if they test his BG now, with him on prednisone, will it give fslse healthy readings? Or would they need to wait until he is done with the prednisone again? Let me know what you think. I have their annual visits scheduled the beginning of November at Brockport – obviously I will cancel that and schedule an annual with the new vet. But let me know when you think I should get Bear in to check on this illness: wait until he is done with the prednisone in 26 days (could always just schedule that ahead of time for when he is off of it,) or try to get him in sooner? Nori is doing great and the food arrived.
Shelter Response: Good morning! Good! You're a smart Mom! Pred stimulates the appetite. If my suspicions are correct his glucose numbers were so low his tummy was upset, he was so run down he didn't have the energy to eat kibble. The soup helped bring his numbers up. The Pred has his numbers up even more and like I said Pred stimulates the appetite. IMHO The Ultrasound in unnecessary. An expense unwarranted. Yes and no. He's on such a low dose his numbers are likely lower than they could be. Our ferrets are on 1.25 mg twice a day. I hope they can help make that decision, honestly if he does a crash before you are a client you're likely not going to get him in to be seen. I got word Doc is on medical leave until further notice. I had all our records moved to the new vet yesterday. you have my thoughts, when I took Shadow to the new vet the appointment was just 2 weeks out from the phone call. If Bear crashes you don't have 2 weeks to wait.Better to get him in before he's no longer on meds. I'm thrilled he is feeling better.
January 9, 2022:
Good evening! Just wanted to update you I’m Bear and Luna. They are living their best life, they enjoy being around the whole family (we have introduced them to the dogs a while ago, and it seems the ferrets run the house over the dogs, lol).
The dogs keep out of the way of the ferrets, but they do enjoy having them downstairs when we are home, as they like to go to to Madeline’s room and whine for us to let them out. Mostly the ferrets like to come into the kitchen and eat out of their little bowl of food and water. Then they like to go in my closet and my husband’s closet to sleep (of course, lol).
Recently, weather permitting, we have taken the fuzz butts outside. Luna loves the feeling of the grass and scratches her self on it. Both enjoy the chance of scenery. Bear is less adventurous, so is content being inside, but Luna waits by the door to go outside .
Not too long ago Bear made an impromptu visit to Dr. Edwards. I noticed that he was scratching at his mouth and his tongue was slightly hanging out. He seemed very agitated. I’m glad they were able to get him in so quickly. It seems that one of Bear‘s canines had broken off and was lodged on the roof of his mouth. They said he was very good and was sedated and the tooth was removed. He was good as new after that! I’m wondering if he injured it a few months prior - he was coming down the stairs, and his little fat body got ahead of himself and he took a small tumble. He seemed fine, but knowing that trauma to a tooth can eventually lead it to die (I’m a dental assistant), seems to fit what may have happened. But he doesn’t that stop him!
Attached are some videos and pictures, and while there are far too many to send I will try to find my favorites. Hope you are doing well!
January 9, 2022:
Good evening and happy new year~
It’s been a while since I have checked in, and just wanted to let you know Bear and Luna are doing great. They had their physical at the end of November and both got a clean bill of health. While Luna still seems the same weight , Bear has definitely put on some good winter weight, And we can’t help but laugh at his cute little waddle. They have both put on their winter fur coats and they are luxurious.
Although, this email does bring very sad news. My daughter Madeline passed away in November. While we are devastated she is gone, we are happy to still have a piece of her in her beautiful babies, Bear and Luna. They are so loved and now all of us take part in caring for and loving them, just as she did. Thank you for the opportunity you had given us to have this happen. Attached are some videos and pictures of Bear and Luna. We hope you all have a happy and healthy new year! We will stay in touch
October 24, 2021:
Everything's going well! I actually took some videos that I will be sending (just need to shorten them to send). Bear’s hair is growing back on his tail (a nice , thick dark fur), so it must have been him shedding his summer coat. They are just so sweet- we just love them!! They both have their physical on 11/24. I’ll send the videos and pics!
August 20, 2021:
Things are going well!! Their little personalities are just a joy (and comical). Madeline and the fur babies have really developed into a nice flow-(she just loves them ). Attached are some more videos/pictures!
August 10, 2021:
Just a couple videos of Madeline playing with the kids.
August 8, 2021:
We made it home safely. And they were very good in the car. For the most part they napped. So far we have the bottom part of the cage set up, and they have just been out and about playing. Lydia went right to the litter box in the corner when we first got home and used it! Bear did not. They have been busy exploring, and I would imagine would be ready for a nap soon. I will send some pictures once I get everything all set up! Thanks again!
We are still fine-tuning the cage and I am still working on washing the tubes and such before it will all be set. I will send you a picture of the final product once it’s there! We just tried to put some things in there quick so they could get in a quick nap.
One question I forgot to ask: I know that you cannot use fabric softener or dryer sheets, what about oxi clean in the wash? I haven’t used on any of their stuff yet, but I use it on my other laundry and just thought I would ask if it was safe for them or not. Thanks!
August 9, 2021:
A few more pictures. They seem to be adjusting well. Madeline keeps sending me videos of them playing, and she keeps updating me about how they are doing with the litter pan. She has been using the salmon oil/ferrettone/furrotone (mix to try to get them use to what we bought) As reward for going in the litter pan (She dishes out a daily serving on the white dish, and let them have a couple licks as a reward, So by the end of the day we know they’re not overdoing it). She said they are really responding to that. Do you have a way that I can send you any videos?
Also, regarding the food:
I figured I will just make mix similar to what you guys use – can you tell me the foods that you get? And the ratio use? Or is it some thing that you Have to prepare fresh? I just want to be prepared one I might need to use it! I figure it’s just as easy for me to make it, then to bother you with it!
And regarding the duck soup: is that some thing that I should get from you to have on hand?
Shelter response: the food they like the best is performance active ferret food and Purina One healthy kitten, the left side mix is Marshals ferret food, Zupreem (no corn) equal parts. I would just in case you need to medicate one or both. I make it up in dry form you can keep it in the freezer. a blended batch makes 56 cubes. cost $13.00 + shipping. if you have a deep freeze you can mix it, pour it into ice trays - I use dollar store trays. each serving is one cube.
question/concern the picture with Lydia the sun looks like it's shining into the cage. if it is have Maddy drape a blanket over that end of the cage to keep the sun out. another danger is the bottom grate of the cage, there have been ferret deaths due to the ferrets trying to get between the bars of that grate. all ours are covered with coroplast secured with zip ties. if you would like a picture let me know, I'll send one tomorrow.
August 8, 2021:
I would like Maddy to spend a bit of time with Bear an Lydia before they are whisked away to their new home. Just a reintroduction so they are happy to go with you. Now questions:
Do you have lock down food and water dishes? ** yes- ones that clip onto the bars of a cage, right? We actually have 3 of those. We also bought another Food and water dish to keep outside in the play area.
Water bottles (2) **we have one, but will get one more!
Large litter pan ** yes, we have 2- one for the cage, and one for the play area (and we might get another for the play area- so they have more than one spot to go)
Blankets – receiving size **yes, we bought a few and already washed them- (no fabric softener or dryer sheets)
Large blankets for beds outside of the cage: ** we have a lot of very soft blankets for them to use, but if there are specific kinds, we can but them.
