Three years ago a person who was close to our family gave us an albino ferret. Since she had given my dd a dog, it was decided that the ferret would go to ds. Ever since the arrival of the little fat, white bundle of ferret fluff, my ds has been devoted to him.
We had read the story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kippling and seen the movie shortly before the arrival of our bundle of joy. Something about the way the ferret moved and looked reminded my son of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and so that's how the ferrets name changed from what it was to Rikki.
Rikki was suddenly part of a group as we received two other ferrets at the same time. The other two taught him all kinds of lessons like how to go up and down stairs, to play, and snuggle.
Rikki has always been slightly off. It seemed to go with his being an albino for the most part. However, he was always eager to explore and hyper compared to the other two. Recently, he seemed a lot more mellow. Then the diarrhea began. We had gotten some new ferret treats and a small bit of different brand of food as the usual stuff we fed them was out of stock. So we figured that was the problem. We quickly rectified by going back to the old stuff as soon as it came in. However, the issue didn't seem to correct itself in Rikki.
We found a vet that deals with exotic animals and booked an appointment for today as that was the earliest available. I wish we could have gotten an earlier appointment but it doesn't seem that it was meant to be. It was so hard to see Rikki as he perked up a little bit but not by much. You could see that he wanted to explore and be excited about the little adventure he was going on but couldn't muster the energy.
Today was the first time that I saw him so calm and still that he didn't need his vest and harness to keep him with ds. He just looked around with his little pink eyes and wiggled his nose in the waiting room. It was when we got to the exam room that you could see just how truly bad shape he is in. He perked up a bit to explore but he was off. The speed, fluidity of motion, the energetic rush to see everything wasn't there.
The vet tech came in with a scale and that's when we all realized that our big, fat boy just wasn't. It wasn't too much of a surprise to see that his weight was down to 1 lb because we could tell he'd lost weight. It was just a shock to see that reflected back in the black and gray numbers on the scale. Rikki didn't want to leave the scale. He seemed to think it made a great bed.
We discussed the options. It's clear that Rikki is very sick. What's wrong with him? We don't know. It could be cancer, it could be diabetes, it could be something wrong with his adrenals, it could be an infection or parasites or worms... the list goes on. Or it could simply be old age. (Ferrets don't have a very long lifespan) It's probably not parasites or worms because that's a bit rarer especially now that he's an older ferret.
It's clear that something isn't right with him and he's dehydrated. So the first step is to get him rehydrate; so the vet had him get some sub-q fluids. She prescribed an antibiotic in case of infection and some good ol' Pepto Bismul for the diarrhea. To boost his nutrition and hydration we are going to use a special type of cat food for him. Something that will be nice because it can be blended down to a liquid without adding liquid and fed through a dropper.
If he's still with us but not better in 5 to 14 days we are to bring him back and look at getting some labs done to direct Rikki's care. If it's treatable to a degree then we'll see about doing it. There probably won't be an option of surgery. Even if it's the right treatment simply because ferrets aren't that great with it at the best of health and Rikki has a long ways to bounce back to even be close. If the sub-q fluids seem to bring him back a bit, then we will look at getting trained to administer them at home. So now we wait and while wait we try to keep him warm, fed, hydrated and antibiotics in him.
Ds is feeling horrible. He's been really down in the dumps and on the verge of tears all day. He's been on such an obvious roller coaster ride that one long time semi well meaning friend wanted to know if he caught PMS. That didn't go over so well as he had no idea what she was talking about and was absolutely terrified and convinced that PMS is killing his Rikki. If it wasn't so serious a situation and so raw this might have been slightly funny. Maybe some day it will be but right now I think we'll be putting some distance between her and ds. At least until I can clue her in out of his ear shot.
I'm looking for recommendations of any books that might help a child on the autism spectrum deal with a beloved, precious pet dying. And while it's true that this isn't ds's first pet death experience or death of a dear family member... it's his first in a very long time... Especially with a pet that he's totally clicked/connected with/gave his heart to.
I'm hoping that this isn't the end for my ds sake. I really want Rikki to get better and bounce back to his highly energetic, mischievous self. I want my ds to have more time with his precious.
The dryer dinged so I must go. It's my turn to administer some Pepto, fluids, and some warmth.
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