I'm posting about my damn cats again

Felix’s comeback

by theogeo

sleepin'

Last week was hell on steroids. Phil and I went back and forth and back and forth about Felix’s health. He’s old — seven and a half (that’s geriatric for Marshall Farms ferrets, sadly) — and he’s been having these weird fainting-type spells that he’s so far, luckily, snapped out of every time. Knowing the signs of adrenal disease and cancer from Gonzo’s battle with both two years ago, we didn’t hold out much hope for any kind of recovery or treatment. We thought we were very close to having him put to sleep since his quality of life had been reduced so drastically in this past year.

Obviously, we were both agonizing over the prospect. Felix has always been such a trooper.

BUT, long story short, yesterday evening we found pretty much the nicest vet ever — Ralph Pope at Pope Animal Clinic — who told us he thinks Felix has an insulinoma and adrenal gland disease. The good news is that he thinks the insulinoma is in very early stages, and after some tests, should be treatable with Prednisone. The adrenal disease is trickier; you can treat it with monthly injections that will help the fur grow back fuller, but for now we want to focus on the insulinoma and get it under control. If that’s possible.

The best news is that the vet thinks Felix has up to another year in him. I was pretty shocked by that. And very, very happy. He doesn’t see very well and he mostly just sleeps, but it will be awesome to have him scuttle around for another year.

Phil says he might let Felix stay with me for a few days over Thanksgiving while he’s home with his family. Felix has been staying at Phil’s place full-time for several months now because my lovely idiot cats don’t understand that he is not a moving, pounceable target. He’s old and fragile and Jack’s fat ass tackling him multiple times a day was very stressful for everyone involved. So I ended the joint custody arrangement and just took visitation rights. It sucked, but I figured Felix would be happier when he didn’t have to worry about cat snipers tracking his every move.

I’m hoping my little darlings have chilled out substantially since then. We’ll see. I’ll bring the hammer down if not. Or the water bottle. Whatever.

8 thoughts on “Felix’s comeback”

  3. Oh, what good news, I’m so glad for you & Felix! And YES on Pope Animal Clinic! I haven’t been, but that was where my sister & brother-in-law took their cats the entire time they lived here and those folks are nothing but absolutely wonderful. My sister’s oldest cat in particular had a lot of severe medical problems, and the folks at Pope – well, I could just never say enough good about how wonderful they were, with my family & with my four-legged nephews & nieces.

    So glad for the good news. Dobie can barely see anymore either, he and Felix would be a real pair.

    Rock on, Felix! Yay!

  5. Aww yay for the little guy! :)

    Question: Do ferrets run around the house loose like a cat/dog? Or are they generally kept in a cage?

  6. Some people get really big cages and let their ferrets pretty much live in them, only getting them out occasionally, but Phil and I always just sort of let ours stay out while we were home and really only put them in the cage when we were out of the house or, later on, sleeping. Also kind of depends on how ferret-proofable your place is. Some places have nooks and crannies and secret ways to get outside (Felix snuck outside through the dryer hose once), so you have to be really careful if you leave them out.

Comments are closed.