Luna    • Surrendered to the Shelter on December 15, 2010.    • Luna found a forever home on May 27, 2012! Read about how she came to the Shelter by clicking here, or read her recent updates below.    • Luna was a DEW female. She left for the Rainbow Bridge June 30, 2013.

December 03, 2013:
  I forgot you had asked for an update on the kids. (We were in NY and Chicago last week to see friends & family over Thanksgiving.)
  You recall Luna passed during the drive to Seattle, but she had existing health problems including insulinoma, and the vet we brought her body to said she most likely died from a heart attack or stroke. I have her cremains, and think about & miss her every single day.
  Penny is fat and sassy, but showing signs of adrenalenoma. She is increasingly aggressive with the other ferrets, and her tail is almost completely bald. It's progressing very slowly, though. In another month or so I'll get her either a Lupron shot or a Des implant.
  There are some distinct differences in vet protocols here vs. New York & New England. With adrenalenoma, for instance, here the thinking is that there isn't much difference between Lupron & Deslorelin, other than the latter lasts for 12-18 months. But the vets don't think there's any real difference in the impact on the adrenal gland(s). They also don't believe that the effect of a Des implant is lessened if the ferret has been on Lupron for some time before. This is different from what Dr. G told me; also I recall Dr. Wagner's research showing that Des might actually shrink - or at least stop the progression of - the tumor(s), while Lupron treats the symptoms. Am I confused about that?
  They also routinely pre-treat with Benadryl here, and follow a yearly schedule with distemper. I discussed Dr. Heller's research and the collaboration with vets at Cornell with my new vet here, but she says as long as the ferrets are pretreated the risk of a bad reaction is extremely small - all but nonexistent. For now, I'm keeping all the kids on an 18-month distemper sked.
  Beau is doing really well!! He went in for an Xray a few weeks ago to check the progression (if any) of his bone degeneration. The radiographs showed his bones are great, solid and strong, and also that his heart and lungs are in good condition, no discernable tummy problems, etc. He's my gorgeous boy!!! His tail fur is looking thin toward the end. Of course it could be seasonal, or related to the stress of so many household moves in a short period of time. If it gets worse I'll get him an implant too.
  Maggie is also doing great!!! She's dancing and dooking, if you can believe it! She's almost seven years old now, can you believe it!!! There has been no change in the size of her spleen, but her poops and appetite are fine. You recall that her left eye is blocked by a cataract; I think she may be having vision problems in her right eye too now, because she bumps into things sometimes. There's no sign of a cataract though, so maybe it's just a depth of field problem with monovision.
  Kit (not one of yours) is also doing great. She's gone from a raging flesh-eater into a loving little marshmallow. She just loves to be cuddled and kissed - although she still does bite George, I don't know why!!!
  Sad to say we have only the four ferrets now, and won't be able to adopt any more until we can buy a house. There hasn't been one single bid on the place since it went on the market in June. Blah!!!! At least we don't have to carry two mortgages, and it will be rather nice to not worry about moving again for six months...
  S.

June 30, 2013:
  Hi Brenda,
  I am very sorry to tell you that Luna's soul passed on today. We left our hotel near Cleveland and stopped at a rest area about 2hrs later. As soon as i saw her i knew she was gone. She was already beginning to stiffen. Her gums were white. I tried rubbing honey on them and held her close to try and warm her but it was too late.
  She was wide awake when we left, in fact she was looking at me through the screen windows of her carrier very intently. I told get i loved her and closed the car door. She'd never looked at me like that before. I'll never forget it. She'd had her soup and the right drops of pred this a.m. everything seemed fine. She was in the carrier with penny.
  We were very lucky to find a rural vet just 20 minutes away who came to his clinic on Sunday afternoon to meet us and take her body. Her cremains will be sent to us in a carved box just like the ones that ollie and mina have. I am so sorry. George and i both loved her and are in shock. At least she won't suffer that awful insulinoma decline.
  Susann

January 10, 2013:
  BTW Luna had the two tumors on her back removed on Monday and the histology results showed that both were totally benign, YAY!!! She's recovering from the surgery just fine and is leaving her stitches alone, thank goodness. She's going to get a Des shot as soon as the vet receives the order from Virbac. She has all the classic signs of adrenalenoma.

September 10, 2012:
  Kids are doing OK; Maggie has an enlarged spleen that seems to have decreased in size somewhat over the past week, and I brought Beau in for diarrhea so he endured 10 days on an antibiotic that tasted as bad as Metronidozole (sp?) but it helped immensely. Am keeping a close eye out for recurrence of the problem. Luna has now bonded with Penny as well as Beau. She chooses to sleep with them. Sweet huh. :) Kit is the same, loving to me and a monster to everyone else, lol, and Penny is just perfect, very healthy and beautiful.
  S.

June 22, 2012:
  Beau is fine. His wound has healed perfectly and the stitches came out yesterday. He can run around now with "no restrictions," says his vet. Thank God!!!
  Luna is also doing very well. She gets her soup twice a day, loves to sleep in the flannel pajama pants, and she loves Beau. After his amputation she snuggled up next to him and licked his neck.
  She's good around Penny too, but gets annoyed when Penny tries to instigate a play session. I haven't introduced her to anyone else. She gets plenty of love from her mom!

June 3, 2012:
  Beau is doing OK on pain meds (Metacam, like $50 for a small bottle!). Am still in shock and yesterday was a bad day. But other than not romping as much as he used to, his appetite is fine and everything else is normal. He has a pen set up in the living room where he can sleep, so he doesn't have to go up and down cage stairs in the dark to eat or go potty. I'm just very, very scared of what will happen during surgery June 13. There'd be no worries if he hadn't reacted badly to the anesthesia. If he doesn't make it, it will kill me too.
  Today is also Luna's one-week anniversary. She can run around freely with everyone in the house except Kit (haven't even tried it). She doesn't interact or play with anyone, but occasionally sniffs and allows herself to be sniffed all over with no bottle brush tail or other problem. She seems settled and content, but hasn't yet responded to my overtures to play.
  Rebekah and I agreed to do the home visit on June 18. So glad those kids found a great home.
  S.

May 27, 2012:
  Susann took Luna home with her, as soon as Luna heard Susan's voice she started to stir in the corn starch peanut box.

January 26, 2012:
  Hi far away mom and dad – mum spent the gift cards you sended her for me and the rest of the fur kids for Christmas - take a look the stuff came today – mum ordered soup ingredients and new cage pans for us - so mum let me check it out – thanks far away mom and dad for helpen mum take care of me! Luna
  

December 23, 2010:
  Dear Miss Louise – we got our presents - take a look at us opening them – mum needs to get Oliver II up here to open his – we also shared some with little Luna – she came in a week ago yesterday – she was found in a dumpster 2 hours north west of here – Miss Mindy went to get her and got her to mum – so there is a picture of her too - Maxim – Pudgy and Luna –
  

 

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Luna's journey to the Shelter::

December 13, 2010 - Mindy::
  Hey Brenda, this came across my 'instant chat.' I worked with Sam when I was in Albion. I will keep you updated….. I am hoping you have room for this little lost girl.

December 13, 2010 - Sam::
  Hey Mindy, how are you? Good. I have a question for you if you have a sec? So I live in a complex with town homes, yesterday I went to the dumpster and someone literally threw out a white (I think female) ferret I do have her. She is good now. I took her home and put her in a bucket with towel and got her food. She was sooooo weak yesterday could not even pick up her head.
  TODAY she seems to have a little spunk to her. She drank ALOT of water and ate a little. We even gave her a bath cuz she stunk.   MY question is what in the world do I do with her?? Where do I go to find someone to take her?? I can’t keep her. No because I don’t want them to get attached and then me take her away.
  I think I will have to bring her tomorrow. She is at my house. Lol, I don’t mind if you come in. lol
  I don’t get out until 9pm. I get home around 9:30. I really don’t mind if you come get it. I feel bad you have to drive all that way in the snow. Sam

December 13, 2010 - Mindy::
  Good. how are you doing Sam!!
  Ferret. They aren't a rat. LOL... Do you have her now? Is she safe? It's hard to think that she is well after being out in the cold....
  If you and the kids can not keep her I can come get her and then this weekend take her to the ferret only shelter in Naples. We can get her feeling better and see if we can find a good home for her. Ferretfarm.org is the website for the shelter if you want to know were she is going.... I can pick her up after work tonight but I don’t get out until 7:30pm and its about an hour or so drive to Albion from the city.
  Thanks so much for getting this little girl out of the dumpster where she would have more then likely frozen to death last night!!! For the record have you and the kids named her?
  I can understand that. Can I meet you somewhere tonight after work? Or pick her up at your door step? I don’t have to come in or a the street corner?
  I don’t mind doing it tonight. I was worried you now worked the early shift and got out much earlier then I did... If I can meet you tonight after you get out, I can stop by my house and pick up a carrier for her.
  For this little ferret that’s okay! She needs to be warm and cared for.

December 14, 2010 - Brenda::
  Mindy – I will be in Brockport Wednesday December 15th with Benji – if this person can get this kid to doc’s I can pick her up – I will need to know if they will take her there so I can alert Doc – let me know – Brenda

December 14, 2010 - Mindy::
  Good Morning, I got home last night at about 11:30pm from picking her up. She is now in our living room in the large travel cage you gave me. She is eating well and pooping.
  There is hind end weakness when she is out walking around, but I cannot tell if that is from lack of food and being stuck in the dumpster/cage bound.
  She did nip me when I was holding her and didn’t put her down. Not hard, just no social graces.
  If you want I can take her to Brockport tomorrow morning or dad has the day off on Friday.
  Please let me know what you are thinking and I will email you as soon as I get home tonight, it was just far too late to do it last night.
  ~Mindy