Ferret Death.. How to avoid in the future

Question
Onyx belonged to a friend of mine who had her for about 2 months and decided he didn't like having a ferret. So, he passed her to another of my friends who always wanted ferrets and would take good care of her. After having the ferret for two days, she then brought the ferret to me.  I was technically "ferret sitting" because a friend's room mate claimed to be allergic. I know absolutely nothing about ferrets other than what I was told by the original owner as far as care goes: they told me to feed her "chicken n'rice ferret food" (bought from petco) mixed with chicken n' rice catfood and water, the litter was actually a soft flaked paper-like cat litter and the water was just tap water.) After a few months though, Onyx became a member of the family. During her stay she was always lively, playful and very, very sweet.

  Eventually, she started violently chewing on the bars of her cage. (it's plastic bottom with wire sides and top with fabric hammocks that are about 3 inches above the bottom of the cage. The bottom of the cage was lined with Velvet fabric (real stuff... not the velveteen.. I thought stretchy stuff would be a bad idea if she decided to chew on it?) She would bite one of the bars and put all four feet up on the walls and yank (it was so violent that I seriously thought she would snap her neck or teeth...). At that point I'd take her out of the cage and play with her some more thinking she just wasn't getting out enough (she was out between 30 minutes - 2 1/2 hours at a time: 1-3 times a day) She always seemed light to me but I wouldn't really know.. I'd only ever SEEN a ferret once before I ended up with one, right? Anyway, a few weeks after she started doing that she started having watery poop so I made sure to keep her cage extra clean and even got rid of all the toys she had that had bite marks on them. I put clean fabrics in regularly, and I also cleaned the bowls that her food was in (with the cleaner that I was given and then boiled water and ran the  boiled water over everything to make sure there was no residue) and  took the cat food out of the mix. She seemed like she had a cold and her eyes got watery and she was sleeping a lot more than normal.  after a couple of days of making sure everything was super clean, always washing my hands before and after handling her, she seemed better, was even playful, the glossy look went away and even stopped chewing on her cage. To avoid her getting sick again I kept up with the "ferret in a plastic bubble" approach, and all seemed well. she even seemed to gain a little weight.
 Then, one day I got home from work and started the normal routine of cleaning, took her out of the cage, and put her in the bathtub on a blanket (we have a Jack russel terrier/ daschund mix who I am terrified will try to eat the ferret so when I can't keep my eyes on the ferret that's where we put her) Normally she played around in the bathtub, or if she thought she was going to get a bath, she would try to run up the side (it's a claw foot so she'd just slide back down- no falling)  but this time she just curled up on the blanket. At first I thought she was just sleepy, so I went to finish cleaning the cage. once it was done I went back into the bathroom, she had pooped in the tub... and it was pretty much all water. she had gotten off the blanket at least, but she was only halfway on the blanket like she had collapsed from exhaustion on the way there. My fiance' tried to pick her up and she twisted around really strange and made a wheezing sound. So he (gently) put her back down on the blanket and she just laid there. Her breathing started to get labored so I had him try to call the  pet ER, and I tried very gently to pick her up again to put her on her favorite hammock. she let me, even looked at me and put her head on my thumb and that's how she died.
I was devastated. I tearfully called my friend to tell her onyx had died, and she buried her.

  If you have any suggestions as to what happened or helpful hints for the future it would be greatly appreciated. I would like to have a ferret of my own eventually... But this time I'd like to go into it as prepared as I can be.

Thank you SO much...

Answer
Hi Callie:

First of all, let me tell you how very very sorry I am for YOUR loss. I don't feel that Onyx was your friend's ferret - not one bit. Onyx laid her little head on YOUR thumb and looked into YOUR eyes when she drew her last breath. It was YOU that she loved and lived for, not your friend. One thing about ferrets is that they do love their owners very very much. I'm so very sorry you had to experience Onyx's death, but it sounds like her little life wasn't too darned bad once she got to your house :-)  She was loved and doted on like any ferret would wish to be!  You are an excellent ferret mom and I truly do hope you will get another ferret. One ferret never 'takes the place' of another; there are never two ferrets alike, but each is like a snowflake, so awesome and perfect in his or her own little way, with their own little quirks and things that make us laugh and aggravate us - ferrets are such a joy to share life with!  I can feel the love in your letter and I know that you are the one suffering from her death, not your friend.

There is a great online memorial place where I've memorialized all my ferrets. They have a Monday Night Candle Lighting Ceremony and they have a list of all kinds of pets (not just ferrets, of course) that have died, usually in the previous week, but often it's other times and people just learned of the website, so they submit the names and information when they learn of the website. Anyway, you submit the ferret's name and date they came to you (or birth) and date of death and a few words of what made them special, and your name. Then on Monday Night at 8pm CST (if I remember correctly) people ALL OVER THE WORLD will be lighting candles in their respective homes and thinking of - praying for - whatever beliefs they have - the pets on the list and the owners who are grieving for them. There is a chat room where owners can meet and support each other. Everyone there has been thru death of a pet and is very understanding. Then, any time in the future, you can always go and look up your baby's name. Somehow it's nice just to be able to go and see their names and your name together - somehow linked together for eternity - I can't explain it, but it's a strange feeling of relief almost. The Monday Night Candlelighting Service was nice too. It was so moving to me to know that others all over the world were hurting - I was not alone in my grief. Somehow it was comforting. I even spent some time in the chatroom each time I lost a ferret - again, I don't know why, it was just comforting. The website is here:  

http://www.petloss.com

and some other website that I found very comforting when I lost my kids..I hope you have a few minutes to check them out:

LIGHT A CANDLE 'IN MEMORY OF' OR 'IN PRAYER FOR':  
   * http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng

RAINBOW BRIDGE POEM:
   * http://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm

GRIEF SUPPORT / CHAT: http://rainbowsbridge.com/Grief_Support_Center/Grief_Support_Home.htm

LETTING GO:
    * http://www.ferretvillage.org/articles.php?page=lettinggo

As far as what to do next time - love them just exactly like you loved Onyx...with all your heart. KNOW that the next ferret is YOURS.  :-)  I would recommend reading the book "FERRETS FOR DUMMIES" by Kim Schilling - it's a fun book to read and you can get it for a really good price if you check http://www.half.com or http://www.ebay.com . There are also some great websites you can read at your leisure - it's just too difficult to try to determine what could possibly have been wrong with Onyx - there is nothing that really jumps out at me that should have set off a red light for you - you already noticed when she appeared to have a cold and were more than cautious and she appeared to recover. IF she did not have her vaccinations (distemper and rabies), distemper is always a possibility. Ferrets usually have had their first shots when we get them, but they need two more shots one month apart starting when we bring them home, then again in a month, then a rabies shot in another month, then boosters every year. Distemper is very very contagious and can be brought into the house on your shoes if you just walked on a sidewalk or yard where a dog or cat with distemper had walked.  It's impossible to say whether she had some kind of disease, possibly an intestinal blockage (very very common in ferrets), a heart problem such as cardiomyopathy (you will read about all these in your reading in Ferrets for Dummies and/or Ferret Central.org), it would be just 'guessing' at best and I am certainly not qualified to do that. I don't see anything obvious as far as symptoms in anything you described. What I do see is a little ferret who was very very loved. You may not have done everything by the book, but you DID love her and that's the most important thing in the world.

There really ARE lots of *special* care requirements for ferrets - I don't mean to minimize that - they are exotic pets with a LOT of special handling required, including a special vet who specializes in ferrets. Depending on where you live, some people even have to travel out of town for a proper vet! I used to have to drive almost 5 hours just to see a vet before we got a qualified ferret vet in our city. Here are some websites where you can read about everything from ferret food requirements to play requirements, safe toys, cage recommendations, etc:

* http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/index.html  

FERRETPROOFING (do this BEFORE bringing a ferret home if possible):  
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/part2.html#ferretproofing
* http://groups.msn.com/Ferret/yourwebpage10.msnw
* http://groups.msn.com/Ferret/ferretproofing2.msnw

BEST ALL-AROUND FERRET WEBSITE:
* http://www.ferretcentral.org
(scroll down to whatever topic you wish to read about - this website covers EVERYTHING)

And one website with a little bit of 'ferret-yness' that might cheer up your day a bit:
  
FUN:   FERRET PIX, SOUNDS, CAMS, STORIES:
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/fun.html

I hope you will stay in touch and let me know when you do get a ferret that you call your own. It would be an excellent idea to do lots of reading BEFORE bringing one home, ferretproof a play area, get a big cage ready, have safe toys ready, have a healthy food ready, a vet ready to give those immunizations on schedule, and all the things a ferret needs. FERRETS FOR DUMMIES really covers everything a ferret owner needs to know, but http://www.ferretcentral.org covers the same things and is free if you would rather read online. Do be sure to read about food, toys, etc. because ferrets really are very different than any other pet - but then, you already know about that to some extent, I'm sure :-)

Again, my sincere condolences on your loss. If I can ever be of help with any specific questions, please don't hesitate to write again.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers