From: Lynn McIntosh [faiml@uswest.net] Sent: Friday, April 28, 2000 1:54 PM To: FAIMLanon; FAIML Cc: faiml@miamiferret.org Subject: FAIML #417; April 28, 2000 Ferret Adrenal/Insulinoma Mailing List (FAIML) #417; April 28, 2000 Hi. Some sad farewells in this list, as I say goodbye for a few days. Thank you to Lucie for her moving tribute to Jasmine, and goodbye to Nancy, and to her Popcorn, and thank you for such kind words. I'm glad that Winnie is doing well. Our Wally is beginning to have seizures often, poor little guy. It's come on so fast. We're raising the meds trying to keep up. I'm off for Fairbanks today, back May 6th. Will have time to get a list out then off to Monterey, CA until May 10th. I hope everyone does well. Remember the daily FML for posting (see below for info)! Lynn and the Sweet Five 1. More on Winnie and Babyfood help 2. Jasmine 3. A Farewell The FERRET ADRENAL/INSULINOMA MAILING LIST (FAIML) is a group that's come together to share support and information about adrenal and insulinoma diseases. FAIML comes out in digest format three to six times per week, depending on the number of posts sent, and their surgency. FAIML information is the opinion, only, of subscribers, mostly ferret caretakers. It is not medical advice, comes with no guarantee of accuracy, and is not meant to replace the examination and medical oversight of a qualified veterinarian. If your ferret is sick or exhibiting signs of illness take your fur kid to the most ferret- experienced vet you can find! A ferret- experienced vet is one of the most important services you can provide to your ferret. TO POST: Write POST at the end of your subject heading (the more specific you can be in your subject heading, the better) and send to . URGENT POSTS: If you feel the message is urgent please mark it POST URGENT and I'll send it out to subscribers as soon as I can, then include the message in the next list. CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS: Please write POST ANONYMOUS after your subject heading if you don't want your address or last name published. SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: Just use the one address for posts, subscription questions, requests, cancellations, comments, etc. The list is run by hand so just send me an email. ADRENAL/INSULINOMA WEBSITE: FAIML ARCHIVES/PHOTOS: Past FAIMLs are being archived, with a search feature, on Michael Janke's adrenal/insulinoma web site: . Michael is also kindly posting pictures of FAIML subscribers and the ferrets at this site in the FAIML Album. Check out his site for more info. PAM GREENE's FERRET FAQs: I suggest people read (and reread) Pamela Greene's Disease FAQ's on Insulin and Adrenal diseases, as they offer a good background. I forward them to all new subscribers, and will gladly send them upon request. I also send the "Disease Package", a file that tells how to get all six of Pamela Greene's FAQs on ferret diseases. Pam also has excellent FAQ's about general ferret care as well, and a link to these may be found on the FERRET CENTRAL web site: . THE FERRET MAILING LIST (FML): The FML has 3,000+ ferret-loving subscribers and the topic is simply ferrets, ferrets, and more ferrets. Moderated by Mr. Bill Gruber, it's a great source of ferret entertainment and information. Visit FERRET CENTRAL on the web (see paragraph above) for more info on the FML. To subscribe to the FML, send email to its moderator, Bill Gruber, at and ask to be added. You can also try subscribing automatically by sending email to with the command SUBSCRIBE FERRET in the body of the email. 1. More on Winnie and Babyfood help From: EquineAmy@aol.com Date sent: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 10:52:10 EDT First, I am not sure if this will help Cristina and Bandit or not, but when Winnie wasn't doing well and I had her to a new vet I was talking to the receptionist for a while and babyfood came into conversation. Anyway, she told me that sometimes Gerber puts cornstarch in and sometimes they don't, but she thought that Beechnut never uses corn starch, just plain water. Hope this helps. Just so everyone knows, Winnie is doing EXCELLANT!!!! I think I figured out why she was acting so bad. I think she had some sort of stomach virus or flu or something. I say this because about 2 days after winnie was better, her sister Chloe got sick. Vomiting and a little bit of diareah. Ate very little and was acting just like winie did, but without all the blank stares. Anyway, now everybody is back to normal. My two girls are as happy and healty acting as little babies - they look wonderful. also, my new year old right adrenal boy. He looks better than he has his whole life. It has been 8 mo nths since his last 1 month lupron shot (last august). He just shed and his coat is the most wonderful - people comment on how beautiful he is all the time now. He has also gained some weight - a very nice 3 lbs now. So, seems things turned around for me for a while anyway. Hope all of you have the same luck. Good luck to everyone adn all their fuzzies. Hope everyone had a good holiday - and thanks again for all the wonderful help. Amy, Winnie, Chloe and Connor 2. Jasmine From: LDarkes@aol.com Date sent: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 18:02:51 EDT On January 27, 1994, Gandalf, my albino ferret had his first birthday. I went to the pet store to pick out a present for him. For his birthday present he received an orange jingle ball -- and a new baby sister. She was named Jasmine, after the flowers that bloom outside our home every spring. Jasmine was a tiny baby, who literally fit in the palm of my hand - we have a picture of this. And such a pretty girl! She grew from being an adorable baby to a little beauty. Over the years, Jasmine's color changed from silver mitt to primarily silvery white. She stayed tiny, very petite and dainty. But always full of energy and curiosity. >From the time she was a baby, she always wanted to be up higher than she was. When she was being held, she never tried to get down, but rather tried to figure out how she could get up higher. She was always the one who would be up on the dining room table, with her brothers and sisters waiting below for her to toss items of interest down to them. The ferret gate that had worked well for a year and a half keeping Bandit and Gandy out of the non-ferret proofed kitchen was scaled in a heartbeat by this little girl. She required us to redefine ferret proofing, to be sure. And she truly lived up to the reputation white-footed ferrets have of teleporting. And so smart! When she set her mind to something, she just did not give up. Usually, it was trying to get up or over something and if it didn't work the first time, she'd back up and try again (and again, and again….) You could almost see the wheels turning in her head trying to figure out a way to make it work. And she usually did. Jasmine had five sisters and brothers join our family after her. When the first two, Aislyn and Mandrake came, she went through a short period of depression, but soon became fast friends, particularly with Aislyn who very much resembled Jasmine during her younger days when her color was darker. And they were often partners in crime, being the white mitt duo. Jasmine is also the only one of our ferrets who really liked cats. She met my sister's cat when he was a kitten and they had a grand old time. Even after Giovanni, the cat grew up - and being a Maine Coon, he's quite large, they would play together whenever we would visit. It was quite a sight seeing this huge cat wresting with a 1.5 lb ferret. She also enjoyed playing with and generally harassing our two cats, much to their dismay. When Jasmine was 4 years old she was diagnosed with adrenal disease. She went through two surgeries, and several medications, including lupron. Through it all, she was such a trooper and always enjoyed life. Last April, she stopped eating on her own for unknown reasons. I fed her chicken gravy by syringe for six months. Then one day last October, just as suddenly as she had stopped eating, she started again. I tell you, the sound of food crunching was never more welcome. Jasmine died two months ago today, on February 28 while I was holding her. She went peacefully, on her own, just a deep sigh and she was gone. I miss her more than I can say. The emptiness, the hole that she left doesn't go away. I've just learned to continue functioning in spite of it. The jasmine are in bloom now, they will always remind me of my little princess. Jasmine, I know you have your pretty coat again and are as beautiful as ever. May you always be up high and free; you will always have a place in my heart. Til we meet again…. Lucie, missing Jasmine (12/15/93 - 2/28/00) 3. A Farewell Date sent: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 13:38:10 -0400 From: "Nancy Stephens" It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to this list. My ferret, Popcorn,has left for the Bridge. Sadly, she was my last ferret. There is no more jingle of ferret bells running around the house. Lynn, would you please remove me from the list? I wanted to state here that Popcorn was truly a Lupron success story. All ferrets eventually die. However, Lupron gave me 1 1/2 years that I wouln't have had otherwise with my darling little girl. That may not seem like very long, but think about it, that's almost 1/4 of her whole life. And it didn't just keep her alive, but returned her to a really good quality of life. Thank you Dr. Weiss!!! Here is an excerpt from my goodbye post to the FML: Popcorn left for The Bridge yesterday. She was 8 1/2 years old. Born in October, 1991, I rescued her when she was just a few months old, borrowing my sister's Camaro to drive into Center City Philadelphia - where I had never been before - because I had to "come right now or we'll have to get rid of her". That was right around Thanksgiving of 1991. I hated her name when we first got her, but wasn't going to bother changing it since she was just passing through as a rescue. Well, she ferreted her way into our hearts and was officially adopted on Christmas Day, 1991. By that time I had come to love her name, as it fit her perfectly. Popcorn, my little white bouncy bit of fluff. A stunningly white albino, her fur was almost pure white her entire life and very thick, not thinning and acquiring the normal yellow hue of albinos until very late in life. She was absolutely stunning. All was ideal until her dear friends, Percy and Bree, passed away just a few days from each other in the fall of 1995. She became very lonely, so we adopted Graham as her friend. She didn't particularly like him very much, but they did grow to become friends. He passed away last summer. She didn't seem particularly lonely this time, so we decided not to put her through getting used to another ferret. She has been on borrowed time for a year and a half. We almost put her down around Thanksgiving two years ago due to extreme psychotic behaviors related to adrenals. Thank God we found Dr. Weiss who put us in the Lupron program. Lupron gave Graham 6 months, and Popcorn a year and a half of really great quality life that they wouldn't have had otherwise. This past week, Popcorn slowly stopped eating. I don't know if she was sick or just decided it was her time to go. She seemed slightly nauseated, but in no particular pain. She slowly lost strength until we gave her the final gift of letting her go yesterday. She left very peacefully, with George and me right by her side the entire time. Her body rests beneath a beautiful flowering cherry tree, currently in full bloom, on my parents' property, with her best friends Percy, Bree, and Graham. She's wrapped in her favorite fleece shirt, and has a pair of my good socks that she liked to steal after she developed adrenal symptoms. Her soul is not under that tree, but somewhere happy. Hopefully playing with Percy, Bree, Graham, Cinnamon, and Winnie at the Bridge, waiting for the day when we can all be together again. Thank you, Lynn, for a great list! - Nancy Stephens ----------------------- End of FAIML #417 -------------------------