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Post by Alliemegan on Feb 20, 2009 21:44:19 GMT -5
D'Arty went in for his teeth cleaning today. We gave him rescue remedy again but probably at little too early this time. He peed himself a little but that's okay. The good news is they managed to get all the tartar off and the tooth we're worried about is actually still good under the crud so he came home with all his teeth!! Yay! He'd probably panicked a bit at the vet's, it looks like he might have ripped out his IV... his paw is pretty bruised... but he didn't lose any teeth!!!
Still waiting on news for Mr. Poley's deslorelin implant. Our vet is really going out of his way to track down the other vet who's doing the study... It'll be some time next week before we'll find out if we need to give Poley more Lupron. It's starting to get annoying when that's the only drug we can use and it's not giving Poley much relief... He's still having loose poops but strangely he seems to be having more energy and just tearing around the house whenever they're out. Ferrets are so amazing... almost nothing can get them down.
My bosses are going to a conference next week and there's still tonnes I need to do... I'm probably going to disappear for the next 4-5 days but don't worry. Hubby is making sure the boys eat their chicken!! Will check in with you when I send the bosses off to their conf and I can take a breath! Have a great weekend!
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Post by Heather on Feb 21, 2009 0:49:14 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear that D'Arty has come back with a clean bill of health and all his toofies I hope that your vet is going to soon be able to at least discuss the deslorin options with this vet and hopefully Mr Poley will qualify for the study. I wish you all the luck, and sending {{cyberhugs}} to Mr. Poley. Ferrets are indeed amazing little creatures, each one of my sweet astral travellers have shown incredible spunk and stamina before finally consenting to go to the bridge. Unfortunately, it also means that we also have to make that horrible decision more times than I care to think about . Don't work too hard, sleep well and give your guys hugs from me. Enjoy your weekend if you can and I will talk at you in a few days . ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Mar 3, 2009 0:09:38 GMT -5
Hi Heather! Sorry for disappearing for so long. It'd been a grueling week at work for me. I hadn't pull that many all nighters since my school days, which was many moons ago. I'm too old for all nighters.... Hubby had been taking care of the kids and I'm sure he did a great job. I still missed my boys though Things are starting to get back to normal in our house. The boys had been backing off from their food. I think they had Dad wrapped around their little paws while I was busy at work. They had turn back into picky little eaters, there's a lot of running after ferrets with spoonful of soupy these days Now that mommy is back in the house, you little punks better watch out We took Poley in for another round of Lupron. Our vet had contacted quite a few people in the states for the deslorelin implant but not really getting anywhere. It's not easy to get it into Canada. We're upping the Lupron to 300mcg and the costs is starting to get scary. Not that Poley is not worth it, we wouldn't mind spending the money if the Lupron is actually giving him some relieve.... which it's not. We might have to start considering surgery again if we can't get our hands on the implant, which I'm not crazy about. But time is running out for my little guy. It will be a really tough call. How are the crazy 16 doing? Are Jack Jack and Calypso eating rats yet? Hope everyone's doing well...Gosh, I got so much catching up to do on the website.... Take care, talk to you soon!
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Post by Heather on Mar 3, 2009 0:51:38 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear that work is settling down for you. You had mentioned on your previous post that work was going to be all consuming for the next little while . We've all been there and I totally understand. I"m sorry to hear that you're still not able to get some deslorin, I can't really understand why they make these things so difficult. Poor Mr Poley, I'm sure you will do right by him what ever happens. We will keep healing thoughts going his way and hope that he really doesn't have to have another surgery. Give him a big hug and a snuggle from me. You will have to let me know how your little guys are doing with their diet. My guys are easing back on their food too, and most of them have lost weight. It's to be expected, spring is coming .... it has to, I'm so tired of snow, and cold . Captain Jack eating mice....hmmm....not yet. He did try a canned hunt, poor soul. I put him in with Mr Squiggly and Sprite both are good hunters and I thought he might learn from them. Poor little sod, he's so emo...he got scared when they killed the poor little mice and wanted out. He was totally beside himself, so I think he still looks at them as being stuffies and he loves his stuffies. Both he and Calypso are eating raw without any problems but prey is still out of their reach. They'll probably get there but they're not ready yet. I'm afraid that Aremis is loosing the fight. Unless some miracle happens soon, he's just going to fade away, poor little boy We will keep our fingers crossed for your little boy. Good luck, let me know how things are going with the feeding. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Mar 4, 2009 11:11:13 GMT -5
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that Aremis is not doing well. I'm really fond of the little guy. I hope he's not too uncomfortable and can still enjoy the company and love from his humans and brothers and sisters. Captain Jack is the poster boy of a raw diet does NOT make your furkids violent and blood-thirsty. I'm so sorry the poor guy got so spooked and tramatized... I'd be upset too if I thought my stuffies are getting ripped apart. Hope he'll get over it. Are you planning to let him take part in another hunt? The boys are pretty much back on track with their feeding. I swear they're just playing their Dad and make the poor dude run after them. They'd been eating well for last couple of days. Guess they know mommy's not messing around when she said eat now or no dessert . I have to say they're not eating as much and Tassy is definitely feeling lighter. Gadget is still eating a ton, but his seasons seem to be a bit off and he's still a big fluff ball. We'd been trying to put some more meat on Merry since his surgery last month and he's holding steady. Poley is actually getting chunkier everyday. He'd loss quite a bit of muscle tone so he got the classic adrenal potbelly and squishy butt. It's rather cute but unfortunately that also create folds around his back legs and bum. We need to be really vigilant with wiping his bum for him after a poopie. His bum is a bit raw from moisture being trapped.... let's just say we're going through a lot more toilet paper as if there's an extra person in the house! But our vet gave us this all natural cream to put on him and it's taking the inflammations away. Poley's just not impressed that we're following him around and looking under his tail all the time! Can't blame the guy though Lots of hugs and kisses for my brave little Aremis. Will talk to you soon!
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Post by Heather on Mar 6, 2009 1:16:40 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear that your guys are all back to eating their normal diet. It's hard to think how much our busy schedule actually affects our little ones but it really does. I'm sorry that Mr. Poley's still having a sore butt, but it was very nice of the vet to give you ointment for diaper rash for your little guy. I'm sure, that Mr. Poley's dignity is a little bruised but it's far better to loose a little dignity than hopping around with a sore butt. The loss of muscle tone is the one thing that really bothers me about Aremis, poor little sods. He still trucks around but he's very weak and sometimes just curls up and falls asleep in the middle of the floor. It's getting harder and harder to get him to take his soupy (he's mostly syringe fed now) but he did take some on his own this afternoon. He's fought a long hard fight, I can see where he's starting to get tired now. I just hold and hug him more, there's not much more we can do for him except grant him the release if he cannot seem to find it himself It's our ultimate gift to give our little friends, the right to die with love and dignity ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Mar 7, 2009 22:27:00 GMT -5
I'm so sorry to hear that Aremis is not doing well. He's a real tough little guy and he's really lucky to have a mommy to love him so much and take such good care of him. It's really heart breaking to watch them losing the battle and drift away. I truly believe that they will let us know when they'd had enough and ready to move on to the next phase. I want them to be with me forever but it's really not up to me... We're doing a bit of spring cleaning today (more like regular cleaning but we're pretending that it's really spring). Got a new hamper to put all their toys in (usually they just scatter along the hallway for us to stub our toes on or trip over) but Tassy had his own idea. As soon as I'd put his toys away, he pushed the hamper on its side, climbed in there and took the toys all out again and placed them back to his favourite spots. We did that all afternoon. Poley gave us a little scare last night. He wasn't eating well and his bum was incredibly raw. He was so listless he actually fell asleep in the middle of the room. I picked him up and held him to my chest on the couch, and he actually stayed there, which was completely out of character for him (The tiny tank is not much for snuggles) He was sqeaking in pain when we tried to clean up his bum... he totally reminded me of my little girl Sally, who we lost this summer to cancer. It suddenly dawned on me that we might have been barking up the wrong tree, maybe it's not just his adrenal that's causing him greive. Maybe there's something else going on in Poley that we hadn't thought of... I was having a full blown freak out and called the vet this morning. Unfortunately Dr. Mike wasn't on this weekend but we got an appointment for Monday. I was still really worry about Poley's bum but suddenly remember my recent babysitting training from tending to my friend's daughter (can you believe I'd never babysat in my whole life until last month?? ) They put tonnes of vaselin on her bum before putting her in a cloth diaper and she never had a diaper rash. Monkey see monkey do.... we slatered vaselin all over Poley's backside over the oinmnet from our vet. He's not too happy about a greasy butt and tried to wipe it off on the carpet... He slept most of the day but he woke up looking much brighter, ate quite a bit. But the best part is, when we did his evening bum cleanup, it's not all that messy anymore and he didn't make a sound. I guess having a sore butt can really get you down, to the point that you don't even want to eat. We're going to keep a close eye on him and bring him to see the vet on Monday if we have to. Enjoy the rest the weekend, as soggy and miserable as it is. Lots of love, hugs and kisses for you and Aremis. I know you'll do right by him and he'd appreciate your love and kindness. Talk to you soon.
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Post by Heather on Mar 8, 2009 0:07:47 GMT -5
I'm sorry to hear that Mr Poley's bum was so sore. Poor little boy I'm happy to hear that you've found a solution too. Have you thought of some of the baby rash ointments? Ask the vet before you use it but there are some really fantastic ointments out there that work really well. My only concern would be if they're digestible or not This is not something one usually concerns oneself with when dealing with children's diaper rash These might be a little easier to clean off his bum than the vaseline which doesn't clean up very well. Some work not only as a water barrier (like the vaseline) but have healing and drying components. Good luck, keep me posted and try and stay dry ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Mar 8, 2009 23:17:31 GMT -5
Dang! I posted a reply to you this afternoon and it disappeared into a cosmic blackhole! Maybe by some computer miracle the post will reappear.... In any case, Mr. Poley seems to be doing better today. Eating his soupy but mostly kibbles. He's being a little bratty, he'd lick the soupy off my finger, make this horrible gagging noise, look at me accusingly... and repeat. But at this point, I"m just grateful that he's eating and playing. He can have whatever he wants. We're trying to decide what cut of pork we should get for the kids. I mean, pork bones might be a bit too harsh on the meat grinder. The only bit I can think of that has softer cartilage is the ribs... any suggestions? I think we're going to take Poley to the vet tomorrow, just to be safe. I found out about a program through Health Canada that you can apply to bring vet medicine in. I'll see if Dr. Mike will go for that or it's just an impossible gauntlet of red tapes... Hugs and kisses for Mr. Aremis. Hope he's doing okay today. Later!
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Post by Heather on Mar 9, 2009 23:53:43 GMT -5
Hmmm, hate those cyberglitches I lost a long post the other day and had another disappear leaving the poor girl thinking I had forsaken her. It's not been a good couple of weeks in regards to the stupid computers I'm glad the Mr Poley is at least happy. I'm inclined to agree with you in regards to the sickies. I've done the same thing for Aremis (he doesn't eat kibbles) but he loves giblets and will still eat them, so he gets them when I can get my hands on them. He's so weak now that he really can't stay awake long enough to fight with them but he gives them a good go. Pork bones....have you tried riblets? I agree, ribs are really too tough but the riblets might go through ok. I used to see them all the time but I haven't seen any in awhile. Another thing you could try is getting some necks and some boneless pork and grinding them up together. You're still getting your bone but your meat is a different protein source. It's what we call "frankenprey" A bit of chicken bones, some beef, pork or whatever protein source, some other creatures offal. It's all about making do with what sources and resources you have By using chicken bones you can use any other source of meat that you want. It's worth a try. I will check in with you tomorrow. Give your furry fang gang a big hug from me ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Mar 11, 2009 18:52:14 GMT -5
Good news! After much anticipation, I think Mr. Poley had finally decided to grow some fur for the spring! It's just little peach fuzz on his butt and his tummy but they're definitely there and growing! I guess we'd finally hit the right Lupron dosage for the big boy. We'd been noticing a hint of fuzz for the last week or so, but after such a long time of nakedness, I thought it's just my wishful thinking Poley's actually growing fur. Maybe he took a hint from Merry... the naked belly brothers are growing fur together. Yay! Oh yeah, you mentioned Frankenprey before... I'm just being dumb I don't know why but chicken necks are actually not easy to come by, even in the Asian grocery stores! I guess there's not much good eatin' on the skinny necks... they have turkey necks though, but I wasn't sure they're going to fit through the chute of the meat grinder. I mean... some of these necks are bigger than the ferts! I haven't seen riblets for a while as well... hummm... I tried giving them pinkies again last night and they're still not recognizing it as food... I dangled one from some dental floss, trying to get the kids to attack it, but they just kind of sniffed it and ran away. So I snuck that same one into Gadget's soupy and he just ate around it.... I thought about getting a whole bunch of pinkies and grind them up into soupy. But at $1.25 a pop, it's kinda cost-prohibiting (when you think about it, pinkies are fancy like ferret caviar!) and I don't really cherish the tought of dropping a whole animal into the grinder. It's no worse than grind chicken parts but psychologically.... I'm going try to hunt for riblets. Kisses and tummy tickles for Aremis. Take care, talk to you soon
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Post by Heather on Mar 11, 2009 22:57:33 GMT -5
Yayyyy Mr Poley...you go my little waltzing weasel Nothing like putting on your fur coat for summer I hope that you start to see some positive results from his lupron, it would be so fantastic. Chicken necks are indeed hard to come by. I buy mine in bulk and even then they're really pricey....they come attached to the carcasses that I get for the dog free, so I'm guessing that they don't even bother to remove them any more, they just go out as scrap . I'm sorry that your pinky went uneaten...yes they're pricey, that's why I've resorted to growing my own. Ferret caviar....not a bad analagy . You can always throw them in the blender with the soupy.... I know, I'm a little squimish about that too I would try just adding one or two to begin with, no point in throwing out a whole batch of soupy too, not at that price . As they get more comfortable with the taste and smell, then you increase the amount that goes into the soupy. Good luck, snuggly hugs to all the furbrats ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Mar 15, 2009 10:18:52 GMT -5
Hope you're enjoying the nice warm weekend with the kids, fur and human alike! The kids tried groud pork this morning and they seem to like it! Actually we mixed it in half and half with their chicken. We put extra hearts and liver into the pork but could find bone substitute yet, so we mixed it in with the chicken to make sure that they get SOME bones... now that I think about it, we could have gone back to egg shell powder too. We'll up the pork content for dinner and see if they still like it... Yay, small victory! Mr. Poley looks a bit happier these days. Eating his cream like a good boy. Our vet is applying to health Canada to bring in the deslorelin implant. And I got a PM from Giuli. She's going to put me in touch with her vet and see if he can hook us up.... In the mean time, the extra Lupron is definitely boosting fur growth on Poley's naked butt... things are looking good for the mini polar bear Wish us luck wth the pork experiment. Talk toyou soon!
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Post by Heather on Mar 15, 2009 19:07:34 GMT -5
I quite often use chicken bone to add to raw meat mixes. I've done it with goat, lamb and pork. So work with it...it's better for them than the egg shell stuff. You're doing great I"m so glad that Mr Poley's starting to put on his coat and that Giuli has finally got in touch with you too. Oh, I so hope that this works for you guys, you've been through so much. Good luck with both your endeavors. Let me know how your pork adventure goes Give all your guys great big hugs from me. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Mar 16, 2009 8:45:38 GMT -5
Last night hubby pulled out a bag of "soup bones" from the deep freeze to make chicken stock for the kids and it just dawned on us -- HELLO?! Chicken backs for Frankenprey! Do you think the back bone is too jagged for ferts?
Pork experiment went okay. they seem to like it but they're too distracted to eat all day yesterday. Both Tassy and Merry would wolf down a few big bites and then run away... crazies!
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