PUTTERING IS A GOOD THING...

George (foreground) and Dave sleep in the sock nest.

I took Dave to the vet today so she could give him a check-up and see how he's doing. He's actually doing quite well -- he wakes up from his naps and putters around and he's eating good. Dr. Dori said his heart and lungs sound pretty good. He does have some sores in his mouth, on his upper gums. So, we are giving him Clavamox for that. We are decreasing the Lasix and weaning him off of that to see how he does.

Dr. Dori showed me Dave's x-rays and, yeah, it looks pretty bleak. She notes two growths (probably tumors) -- one in his heart and one under his trachea. ::sigh::

So...I'm cherishing every day he is with us. Right now, he has a good quality of life. I hope it stays that way. Still, how do I prepare for this, the inevitable? How do I stop the heartbreak of loosing him?

Anyway, I snapped the photo above this evening. The "sock nest" was created when Dave came to us with his cagemate, Cupid. They stole K.'s dirty socks, took them under his desk in his office and slept there. After Cupid died we never picked the socks up, but Dave didn't sleep there much. Lately, though, I've seen him back under there, usually curled up with George or Misty. It's bittersweet.

Cupid and Dave sleep in the sock nest. After Cupid died, Dave stopped sleeping there.

About Dave Bear

His favorite places to sleep are the sock nest under K.'s desk, the big plastic container in our bedroom or the toy box we converted into a Hidey Hole. Sometimes he'll surprise me, though, and I'll find him in a ferret pile in the hammock under the bed or sleeping in one of the crinkle tunnels.

Even though he's blind, he gets around just fine. A few bumps into the walls at times. Or a bump into the Thing that mommie put in his path that wasn't there before. But he just good-naturedly finds his way around it.

He hits the potty pad more often than his comrades, none of which are blind.

He knows exactly when it is time for his Duck Soup and comes straight to the kitchen and waits for me. My favorite time of day is sitting with Dave in my lap as he gobbles up his soup and then washes his feet.

He loves boxes. K.'s trash can. And WalMart bags. And "crunchies". And N-Bones. He lets the other guys steal his treats and he just comes back for more. He "hides" his treasures in the middle of the living room floor. We just pretend we don't see them.

He lets me give him his medicine, even though it's yukky. He knows I'm taking care of him. Plus he always gets Ferretone after his medicine.

He's gained a lot of weight and waddles. He's losing his beautiful coat. And he is just so beautiful to me. He shows me unconditional love, because I, too, have have gained a lot of weight and waddle. But Dave doesn't care. I'm Mommie and he loves me.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY

Two of my foster fuzzies:

(L) Baby (aka,'Koosh") , (R) Smokey

Last Monday a distemper shot for Rocky (which always makes me sooo nervous, but he did just fine). Yesterday glucose checks on Dave (my blind guy) and Baby (one of my fosters, who I call 'Koosh'). Baby's glucose was fine -- Dave, notsomuch. Dave's glucose level was 53, which points to insulinoma. So we broke out the Prednisone.

I'm glad I had them checked. Dave shows no real symptoms...I just did it as part of a check-up because he turned 5 years a couple of months ago. When it read borderline, we waited and repeated it. Hopefully, we are catching it early.

I had Koosh checked because she seems so non-energetic to me. Is happy just sleeeeeeping away. So I was worried. Now those worries are put to rest! (Better safe than sorry) Baby is just a little mellowed out girl...and I'm not so used to mellow! LOL!

Smokey (another foster, aka, 'Stretch' and 'Tex') has this annoying little mast cell tumor on his head he will not quit scratching. So I had Dr. Dori look at it. She said to just keep putting Benadryl cream on it. Dana said I can give him Children's Liquid Benadryl, too, which I need to do, I guess. Poor little guy...

DAVE'S BLOG

O, hai, dis be Dave. I write de blog tonite becuz mah Mommy dozn't feel goodz. She went to da peeple vet and he sez she gotz a bronkitus.

So, dis good tyme to remind everybuddy to be carefulz wit ur ferrets when u getz a cold or sumting. We can git sik ezy. And we can cach ur coldz!

We all been good boyz todayz. We sure miss r friend, Cupid, tho. Mommy sez he went to a place he not sik enymor. Dat makes me very happy.

Milo got black eye, cuz he play too rough with Ziggy. But he still iz playin too rough, even tho Mommy said stop. He prolly git anuther black eye. Dat be funny to me!

OK, dat all. Mommy prolly back tomorrow.

Love,

Dave E. Bear

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.

SPRING PHOTOS & CUPID'S ADVENTURE

Dave gets his Spring Photo done, but, because he is blind, he has a hard time getting the idea about what the heck he's supposed to be doing!! He just cracks me up! I gave him Ferratone and he loves, loves it!

OK, we were a bit more sucessful in the second photo:

Iz dis bettr, Mom?

Yesterday I took Cupid outside to explore the flowerbed. I wish I hadn't cut the top of his head off in this photo, but it's still so cute. He enjoys sniffing around outside, however, we had a Drama Moment when he slipped through a hole in the fence and went into the neighbor's yard!! I called him and he came back to me, thankfully! We won't be doing that again. Must get a playpen for outside romps...Anyway, that was enough excitement, so we came back in the house...

I called the vet this morning because I think Cupid is having an upset tummy. She prescribed some medicine I need to go pick up at the drugstore. He's going to the vet this evening to get his glucose rechecked. I'm thinking I'm going to buy a glucose meter soon, so I can check him at home. Milo is getting his second distemper shot, too. I hate that. I'm such a worrier......