Re: Winnie has taken a turn for the worst..
Well it is with a heavy heart that I write that Miss Winnie got her wings yesterday.
Her and Cooper came into my life two weeks ago after I had a nagging feeling that there was someone at the shelter that really needed me. Her and her brother were deemed unadoptable so I decided to foster them both.
Miss Winnie did not have a very easy life. She'd lived at the shelter for the last two years after being found as a stray and no one knows what her life was like before that. The two years at the shelter no one claimed her. She was scared of all other ferrets except Cooper who decided to take her under his wing in the shelter.
I knew that Winnie was not very healthy when I brought her home. Her gait was shaky and she was partially blind and I spent many hours with her learning what she liked and didn't like. She never bit and gave kisses from the start. She liked the sound of my voice and would eat from the syringe if I gently coaxed her.
After the first week I decided she needed her BG tested and she was diagnosed with insulinoma. My vet got her stable and we got her on Pred and she did okay for the first few days..but then she started to lose her appetite altogether and I really had to force feed her and something strange was going on with her gait..her hind legs still kicked but her hips just hung limply and could not hold her body up. She also had started having labored breathing. I decided again to bring her to my vet for further testing. I knew the shelter could not pay for all these expenses so I just went in and treated her as my own in the two weeks I had her.
Friday morning she seemed rather peaceful and I held her in the baby sling across my chest while I syringe fed her. When I reached down to suck up more soup into the syringe she had enough energy to tilt her face up and kiss me. I told her we were going to the doctor for some tests and she could trust me. She curled up with Cooper and they had a nice cuddle. I went to get the carrier to get ready to drop her off at the vet and Cooper had walked away and she was laying there, it almost seemed like waiting for me.
We went to the vet and had her xrayed. Her BG was tested and even though I had just fed and medicated her it was 53. The insulinoma must have been pretty bad and been there for awhile. When the vet squeezed her back legs she had no pain response in a good portion of her hind end. It almost seemed like there was some spinal degenerative disease happening. The xrays revealed that Winnie's lungs were full of fluid. Her prognosis was very guarded. I asked the vet what our options were and she said we could treat her symptomatically by increasing the Pred and getting her on antibiotics and such..but to be frank with me she would be surprised if she made it more than another 24 hours and she could not guarantee it'd be a peaceful passing at home. Also I live in the middle of nowhere and do not have many options for a vet over the weekend except the ER vet which is still 30 minutes away. I realized I didn't want to risk this and Winnie deserved a peaceful quiet ending.
The vet injected her in the abdomen (my preferred method) and wrapped her up in a baby blanket so I could hold her as she left this world. I was able to watch her breathing slow down until it stopped completely. I stroked her face and her whiskers and kissed her head and told her to go on and be young and healthy again and I promised to her I would look after Cooper. Right before her last breath, her eyes looked into mine. She had never done this before with the blindness, always was guessing where I was by my voice talking to her. But for that brief moment she looked directly into my eyes and I felt like she could see again and her eyes glimmered and her mouth relaxed into a peaceful smile as she exhaled and then she was gone.
I now understand why Winnie needed my help. Cooper seems to be at peace with this so far, it's like he knew all along. I will fulfill my promise to Winnie and take care of him. I have decided to adopt him.
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