Cardiomyopathy Archives

RIP Kaos — 1998=2008

Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 12:27 pm  
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It upsets me to say but my Kaos didn’t make it. 

She died peacefully around 4:30 this afternoon – I’m not sure of the time because I’d been holding her in my arms while in the sitting room but she sounded upset, making little crying noises, so Philip took her and put her back in the drawer.  When I went to check on her just half-an-hour later, she had crossed over to the Rainbow Bridge.
She’s now playing with all my other ones at the Bridge and I just am so grateful that she didn’t suffer for any longer than she had to.  
She was a wonderfully zany little ferret – a rescue ferret from WAFFS (she was found in a cardboard box outside a vet’s surgery and handed into WAFFS), she came to us after being rejected by 3 families because she was so high maintenance.  
My good friend Lyn got her son, Ken, to bring her to our house in 2000 and when Ken let her out of the carry cage, Kaos ran around the perimeter of our sitting room several times then jumped onto the back of our German Shepherd!  The dog took off and Kaos was hanging on for dear life onto her back, like a rodeo rider!  That’s why I called her Kaos …. no other name suited her :-)
She was a character to the end and will be missed terribly by us but at least now she’s feeling no pain and is at peace.
This photo which Philip took of her in her water bowl captures the essence of that wonderfully silly little girl who was so full of love and made us all laugh with her antics  ….  I’ll miss you terribly, my little one  :-((

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Kaos has crashed :-(((

Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 12:41 am  
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She was fine yesterday, taking her medicines and eating her smoothy with gusto, but around 8pm, as I went into the bedroom to go to bed, I noticed she was just lying under the chair we have in the corner.

I called Philip and we agreed she looked completely confused and out of it, plus her head was drooping and her eyes half-closed.  She couldn’t walk at all and seemed to be dragging herself around.
I held her for a while, until she weakly struggled to be put down, and then I placed her back in the drawer where she sleeps.
Of course that was the end of a decent night’s sleep for me.  I was up practically every half hour to check on her, terrified of finding her dead.  If I thought she was stirring, I put her on the newspaper and she piddled slightly, then I put her back in her drawer.
By 2am I was surfing to find out what the symptoms were for either lack of potassium or excessive potassium in an animal.  I found that she seemed to be suffering from hypokalemia – low potassium levels.
Although it was to do with cats, the symptoms seemed to be the same as what Kaos had ….
“The main effect of severe hypokalemia is generalized muscle weakness. Affected cats have difficulty in getting up and walking, and may appear almost “drunk” because of their weakness. A common and characteristic sign of the muscle weakness is the inability to raise the head into a normal position, so that the head is held down. Hypokalemia can also cause marked depression and lack of appetite.“
Of course it had to happen during a long weekend, when my vet’s surgery was shut.
Philip and I were up early trying to work out how we could fix the problem.  I was in a dither because the Spirolactone was supposed to be good potassium-wise, so was terrified to treat Kaos for low potassium and find that the stuff I gave her, in fact, killed her.
There wasn’t much about symptoms for hyperkalemia – high potassium levels – for me to check.
We called several vet surgeries and they were either closed or the vet on duty wasn’t ferret knowledgeable.  I then found a vet fairly close by listed in my own vet page (Duh!  It took me half-an-hour to figure that one out – fool that I am!) that was open on public holidays.
We rang and thank God the vet who was listed as ferret knowledgeable was on duty.  Philip spoke to him and he said he’d prepare some medication to get her potassium sorted out so Philip has driven up to Whitfords to collect it.
I hope to God that it works, just to get her back to some semblance of normality.  For the first time ever she showed no interest in her Chinese medicine this morning and it was only when I smudged the pet milk on her nose that she started to lick at the dish, and she was very unimpressed when I gave her her Western medicines.
I just put her on the newspaper and she piddled a tiny amount and it was very dark.  I am so worried that her kidneys are beginning to fail – she doesn’t seem to want to drink any water, even when I put it on my finger against her nose.
Hopefully the medication Philip brings back will manage to bring her out of this slump otherwise tomorrow is going to be an extremely sad day :-( (
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Kaos’s progress

Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 12:32 am  
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Well the old girl is still going well (touch wood).

I got a little anxious a few days’ ago because I didn’t notice her eating much, and right away I started worrying that maybe her stomach was being fooled into thinking she was full due to the swelling of her belly.

I have her food and water dish right next to the chest of drawers in our bedroom so that she doesn’t have to go far if she’s hungry or thirsty, and was pretty dismayed recently because I didn’t see her going to the food dish much.

This is a preview of Kaos’s progress. Read the full post

Back in my home sweet home again :-)

Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 4:09 am  
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I am so pleased to be back home again and all the ferrets gave me a heroine’s welcome when I came through the front door :-)

All of them, including, Kaos, came charging out and were sniffing my legs and stretched up to me to be picked up, which I couldn’t do.  So I headed to the bedroom, sat on the bed and they all joined me – sniffing through my hair and licking my face.  No way you can feel neglected or unloved if you have ferrets, is there?!!
Monty was a great ambassador … there were a fair few nurses who asked about him and, of course, that was a great opportunity to sing the praises about ferrets as pets :-)
Oh, and thing which had me smiling hugely is that Kaos is doing REALLY well on her Spiralactone!  When I was in hospital, Philip weighed her and found she’d dropped 200g.
I forgot to mention a while back that Kaos had put on another 200g so was now 1.2kg but since she started on her Spiralactone, she’s managed to lose that extra weight, which is such absolutely fantastic!
She still looks fat but her stomach isn’t as stretched taut as it was  - she looks more like she’s swallowed a tennis ball instead of a bowling ball and her stomach feels much softer.  Her appetite is still really good and when she walks, she doesn’t kick out her legs to the side like she used to, so I am so thrilled at her improvement.
Am pretty much confined to bed for a few weeks so hopefully will have time to find interesting stories to post here … stay tuned :-)
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Hi ho, hi ho … it’s off to hospital I go — again!

Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 12:31 am  
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Just to let you know this blog will be quiet for a while as Monty and I have to head back to St John of God for another operation today.

Well, Monty’s not having an operation, he’s just going to guard my pillow while I’m being put under :-)
Poor Philip – he has detailed instructions on what time to give Kaos her medicines and has all the bottles marked so that he can recognise which one is which.  I’ve divided all her TCM formulas up into morning and afternoon pill boxes, so that he knows which one to serve up at what time, so it should all be fine.
Speaking of Kaos – she still looks like she’s swallowed a bowling ball so I don’t think the Spirolactone is doing much.  The maddening thing is that if she weren’t so swollen, she’d be really in such good condition, all things considered.
Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you that Kaos is doing well in about a week or so .. till then, too roo :-)
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