GENERALALITIES

That Dave. He's such a Duck Soup addict. I feed all my guys DS every night. I hold each one individually in my lap and they eat their soup while I pet them and talk to them. This gives me a little bit of time with each ferret, plus I can do little "inspections" to make sure they don't have any lumps or bumps. Dave just loves it. Sometimes he waits for me in the chair (too cute). After he eats, he stays in my lap and cleans his face and feet and stretches. It always brings me out of whatever is distracting me.

Sometimes George hangs around in my lap a few minutes, too; the rest of the guys can't wait to jump back down (they still have to give me a 'lovie' first, though, that's the rule).

Every now and then I put the bowl of Cupid's leftovers (what didn't get pulled into his syringe) on the floor. Dave gets it every time! He may be blind, but he can sniff out a bowl of Duck Soup. I don't mind at all ~ it's very good for them.

I'm thinking of trying real chicken in the place of the chicken baby food I use, just to see how the like it. I tried offering raw beef a few days ago, which didn't go over too well, haha, but perhaps boiled chicken in the DS will be acceptable. :?

Cupid is still with us. Still bad, no real change. One of his little eyes was all gooey today when I got home from work. His nose was a little crusty, too. I got a syringe of soup and a bit of water down him. My poor baby.

Last night, Keith put Cupid in a little bed and put him on the floor next to his side of the bed ((so sweet)). Cupid slept there until about 4 am, when I woke up cough, cough, coughing....So I got up and put Cupid back in his cage.

I am sleep deprived, but I don't care. It's worth it.

BABY FERRET EARS

An odd thing: Milo is only five months old, but he seems bigger than my adult guys. I remember Ziggy being a big guy, too. When he turned a year old, the baby fat melted away and, suddenly, he became just a regular size ferret ! Milo hasn't grown into his ears or feet yet. He really looks like a mouse! He is so adorable !!

New nickname for Dave: Frijole

Cupid is getting to the point where he can barely walk. He's so weak. He only ate 1/2 of his syringe earlier and refused Ferretone (a sure sign something is wrong).

I need to go feed him again. My eyes are so heavy....took some wicked cough syrup!! :)

CONSIDERING DAVE

(OK. So, I decided to give someone else some blogtime and give poor Cupid a break...)

Meet my little guy, Dave E. Bear. Dave is Cupid's BFF and is just about the sweetest, most gentle fuzzy ever. I brought Cupid and Dave home from the rescue I volunteer for. At the time, the rescue was getting full and needed some space, so I took them in to foster.

It didn't take long before these two guys stole our hearts (and our socks). As a Christmas gift this past Christmas, I officially adopted Cupid and Dave. It was the best gift ever!

Dave and Cupid came from a home where their owner was a young girl who was leaving for college. The girl's parents didn't want to care for these two, so they were surrendered to the rescue.

Dave is almost 5 years old (approximately) and is a big, beautiful black and white sable. He is a Marshall's ferret and a Gemini :0) . And, Dave is blind. I don't think he was always blind - it must have been a progressive degeneration of some kind. When we first got him, I noticed he slept with his eyes open. Then I noticed he ran into things (poor baby). Now he gets around so well, you'd never even know he couldn't see. He has an amazing nose and can smell Duck Soup a mile away!

Dave E. Bear's favorite things are eating Duck Soup and then sitting in my lap afterwards to wash his hands and feet and stretch. He loves snuggling in one of his favorite sleep spots and snoozing, playing in sacks and slo-mo wrestling with Cupid (seriously, it's funny).

He is learning to tolerate baby Milo's sudden pounces and piggy back rides. When he has to, he can hold his own in a rumble.

Dave is the essence of pure goodness and unconditional love. He is a good sport and is so patient with himself and with others. He is a peaceful little fellow and he had brought so much healing to me.

He is a beautiful boy and I love him deeply !!

CUPID HELPS WITH THE DISHES

So I took Cupid to see Dr. Dori on Wednesday evening. She spent a lot of time examining him. She told me his lungs sound great, but his spleen is enlarged and hard in one spot. Dr. Dori said it is common to see enlarged and hard spleens in ferrets ~ no one really knows why ~ so it may or may not mean something.

He's lost weight, which I was aware of. His glucose was 71. Dr. Dori still wants to wait until April 13 to repeat Cupid's x-rays. She thought maybe he was having some side effcts to the Lasix, so we reduced the dosage.

It appears that Cupid is improving somewhat. His tummy seems to feel better, although he still isn't eating so great. He gets up and mills around for a few minutes at a time ~ last night he even came in the kitchen and helped me unload the dishwasher!


Anyway, Dr. Dori was awesome. She really eased my mind. I'm doing everything right ~ now it's just a matter of waiting and watching. Hopefully, in a couple more weeks, we will be able to figure out what else is going on with Cupid (besides the insulimoma).

On top of this, Dave got really sick tonight and barfed all over the house. It looked like undigested Duck Soup, so I'm hoping it was just a matter of him overeating. Dave loves to eat.


Ugh --- I am exhausted.

SENSEI NIBBLES KIBBLE !

Finally, finally...Cupid ate a little bit of his regular food last night ! I am hesitantly encouraged ! I'm going to try taking his Duck Soup feedings down to twice per day, instead of the three times I've been giving. Perhaps he will be more willing to munch on his dry food.

With the insulinoma, I'm going to have to continue to feed him Duck Soup twice a day with his Prednisone. And because his sleeps so much more and is less active, he probably will never pig out. But he needs to get to a place where he is willing to eat and drink on his own.

Neither one of us is ready to give up...