Ferret suffering. Should be euthanized, but not my animal. What to do?

A member of my ferret club had his house burn down. He is not allowed to keep his ferret in his temporary housing. Since I'm on call to pick up rescues, the club President called me on Sunday to pick up this particular ferret and house it until further notice (till the guy finds a new place to stay).

I went to pick up the ferret later Sunday night. The owner was waiting outside in the dark with his ferret in a carrier, so I couldn't see her.
The owner said she was showing signs of a common ferret illness, Insulinoma (equivalent to hypoglycemia), but was otherwise healthy. He also mentioned that the ferret hasn't been eating since the Fire. He didn't mention when the fire was, but I assume it was last week. He gave me a bag of food and I left with the ferret.

Ok. Here's where all the problems start showing up.:mad:

That Sunday night when I got the ferret home, I noticed that this ferret did not look healthy at all.
Granted she's 7 years old, which is old for a ferret, but an old animal can still look good. This ferret has very poor body condition.
She is emaciated. :O I can feel every bone in her body. Her hips and ribs are visual through her fur, which is pretty extreme. The owner stated that she hasn't eaten since the fire, but it's clear that she hasn't eaten for a long time. Not eating is also a sign of Insulinoma. This guy should have been syringing his ferret food. There is no excuse for emaciation.
The ferret also has limited mobility. She cannot walk due to weakness in the hind legs. Another symptom of Insulinoma.

I have the ferret separated from my personal ferrets. She seemed stressed out by them on top of being away from home and her owner.
The ferret hasn't eaten in my care, so I've been syringing her carnivore care. While she won't eat on her own, she takes syringed food like a champ. She takes the carnivore care down like a starving animal, which is understandable. She has been starving.

I also suspect she has Adrenal disease, which is a ferret cancer. She has a very swollen vulva, which is a sign of Adrenal.

I talked to the owner yesterday and he had no clue about the adrenal signs. He also claims that he's "been meaning to take her in to the vet." And that statement makes me so upset. "Meaning to"..... This ferret isn't healthy and isn't getting better at all. She should have seen a vet a LONG TIME AGO. She doesn't even have medicine for her Insulinoma. With the owner's permission, I've been giving her 2 doses of medicine a day from my own personal stock. And on top of the "meaning to go to the vet", he said he wanted to take her to a Bird Clinic??? Last time I checked, a ferret isn't a bird.... :confusd:

She also has been soiling on herself because her limited mobility.

Well. Today, the ferret had a seizure. Seizures go hand in hand with Insulinoma due to the changing levels of blood sugar. She's just doing so poorly.
This ferret isn't going to last long. After the seizure, she started corkscrewing like crazy for a few minutes. The whole episode ended after a few minutes and she just suddenly dropped down. She's either unconscious or dying. I can't tell. She's still breathing.

I want to have this ferret euthanized. She's not doing well. She can't eat on her own. She can't walk. She soils herself. She is suffering. Her quality of life is so poor.
But she's not my ferret. I've been trying to get a hold of the owner, but he's not answering his phone. I want this guy's approval first, but I also know this ferret can't wait.

At the start of all this, the club president and myself had no idea all this was going to happen. We just assumed the ferret was relatively fine and just needed a babysitter.
I feel horrible this is all happening, but I really think this ferret needs to be humanely euthanized.

TT_______TT


What are your thoughts guys?

That's a tight spot.

While I agree the animal sounds like it is nearing the end, I would wait for owner consent. I would not do something that could open you up to a lawsuit. Now days people are crazy and if they see a way to make a quick buck they will.

If you do have to get a vet to put it down I would ask the vet for a detailed letter explaining the condition and the reasoning for putting it down.

Sounds like this guy should be confronted by your club.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KMG

That's a tight spot.

While I agree the animal sounds like it is nearing the end, I would wait for owner consent. I would not do something that could open you up to a lawsuit. Now days people are crazy and if they see a way to make a quick buck they will.

If you do have to get a vet to put it down I would ask the vet for a detailed letter explaining the condition and the reasoning for putting it down.

Sounds like this guy should be confronted by your club.

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Yeah. The president had no idea that the ferret was doing this bad. She said she will definitely have a good long talk with the owner. From my encounter with the owner, he seems like he does care for the ferret. Just really misinformed or something? He's a little weird too. So who knows....

Well. I'm going to keep calling this guy. Thanks for the input.


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Good Luck. That sucks.

Thats sucks, tough situation though.

If the ferret's condition continues to decline and you cant get ahold of the owner i would just take it to the vet to have it euthanized. Youve been in touched with him and the president of your club. If you and the president both agree it needs to be done and the vet would agree it needed to be put down i dont see how he could fight you over it. Then again some people are stupid.

Ok. I made a mistake on my original post.
I meant that I picked up the ferret on Friday night. Not Sunday.

Here's an update:
The owner finally called back. He wanted us to take her to the vet today and get blood tests run. I have no idea what a blood test would do for her. It would do nothing since her main issue was the untreated insulinoma plus old age.
But we agreed to take her to the vet today. And start treating her adrenal as well.

Well...Today, she woke up. She started eating fine, then suddenly freaked out for a few seconds and dropped dead... I tried giving her CPR but with no success.

I texted the owners girlfriend the whole situation.
The guy doesn't have a reliable phone. I think he's using an internet phone number?? But he called after a few minutes after that text. He refused to hear it. He just kept telling me to take her to a vet to double check she was dead. I said "ok." then proceeded to ask him what I should do with the ferret once she was confirmed dead. He just said take her to the vet, take her to the vet. Then the phone call dropped.
As someone who deals with dead animals pretty often, I'd like to think I know what a dead animal looks like. This ferret IS dead....She's loosing heat. Rigor hasn't set in yet. But I am 110% sure she has passed.



This whole situation was a nightmare.
I had no idea that this would go down so bad. The president and myself assumed the ferret was a healthy ferret that just needed a temporary home.
x__X

Maybe ask for him to cover a necropsy? What a nightmare. Considering the condition and age of the ferret he has no reason to blame you guys for it, but for some reason (and the insistence on the vet visit) I have a hankering he's going to go that direction. Keep us updated and good luck, I'm sorry it ended so abruptly. At the same time, I'm glad the poor thing is out of it's misery, they seem like lively little critters

The owner sounds pretty shady...good suggestion on the necropsy. Good luck! And poor ferret :-(

Okay, I'm going to go with my gut on this one and say that you should put the animal in the fridge, and confirm with the owner that the animal is indeed dead and that you would like permission to get a necrospy done. This is to cover your butt. People get emotional when their animals are involved. Even moreso after something as traumatic as a house fire. My beautiful baby Lovebird died in the care of my ex (who was physically abusive at the time), so I had no way of knowing if my baby bird just died or if it was killed. The choice not to have it taken in to confirm cause of death has haunted me to this day.

To avoid having blame put on you, I would call the vets office, explain the situation as well, call the owner, explain that he needs to release you as being liable for the animal's death, or pay for a necrospy to prove otherwise.

Cover your butt. Everyone has a point where their better judgment will faulter. If she was already sick and he believes she was okay, the blame could very well fall on you.

That's a horrible situation. But, do what you need to do to avoid a lawsuit. Record your conversations on the phone if you need to with this guy. If you don't, it could turn into a bigger mess than it already is :(

Sounds like he is the type i was worried about for you.I'm glad it came to an end for you and the ferret. Is he going to pay all the vet bills he ordered you into?

The owner is a little strange. Definitely not normal. I've only met him a few times as he's not an active member in the club.
He's a priest for a hospital, so maybe he refused initial vet care because he was hoping God will restore his ferret? I'm not trying to joke here. He seemed genuinely concerned for his ferret, but she was extremely neglected. Either way, an upsetting situation for the ferret.


He seemed shocked that she died. I guess I was too, but I wasn't surprised it happened. The whole spazzing episode right before she fell limp maybe suggested a seizure or cardiac arrest. It just happened so quickly.
The owner claimed she was healthy other than "showing signs" or insulinoma. From what I saw, she was in advanced stages of UNTREATED insulinoma and died a horrible death in addition to her neglect. And I'm sure all the stress of the fire, moving place to place, and being away from familiarity, being overwhelmed by new people/ferrets/places took it's toll on her little fragile body. Plus she was really old.

We asked about the necropsy, but the owner said not to bother. We just sent her to get cremated and she will be back in a week. The owner said he will pay for her cremation. And if she were alive, he was going to pay for her vet visit and treatment too.
I guess he's accepted that his ferret is better off. I have a handful of witnesses(including a vet and vet tech), videos, and photographs of the ferret's miserable condition to vouch that she was not well. So I doubt he will blame me for her death.

I'm sad that this happened, but relieved that the ferret isn't suffering any more.

Thank you everyone who gave helpful suggestions and support. I really appreciate it.

Nikki, thank you for the update. That's unfortunate that it happened at all, but I'm glad that nobody is pointing fingers at the end (especially towards you). That's the main part I was worried for.

Thankfully, the ferret isn't in pain anymore

It's good that you have the proof. If at some point he decided to sue you, you could use that to offer to press charges of neglect/abuse, and/or use them as proof that it was his own neglect and the advanced age of the ferret than led to it's demise.

That is so sad. I do know that ferrets in old ages health can change so quickly. A few weeks ago I had to put my 9 year old male down. He had issues for a long time and he had come to his end after a year of vet treatments. In his case he went from totally fine on meds to seizures, losing weight, and immobility in literally 2 days. I made the decision that it was time. The vet agreed that there was nothing to be done and anything longer would have been suffering. I do know what it's like to be an owner though and have to think about things like that. It sucks.
In this case I'm sorry that you had to be the one to watch that. It is never fun. Big changes are stressful on any ferret and seniors don't take things well like that.
I hope everything can be worked out with the owner.


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Have some peace of mind knowing that she passed away in your care rather than his. Sounds like you really took care of her and made her comfortable in her finally days. Sorry to here about this clusterfudge you had to go through Nikki! :(

What a jerk :mad:
I don't care what situation you're in, if you cannot afford to take your animal to the vet, you give it to someone who can.

I was going to make a suggestion which, seeing as the poor gal's been dead for over three days, it's a little too late to do.
But in the future, if you ever receive an animal like that, take photos of it's condition. Even if it dies, I know that doesn't seem too respectful, but I've heard some stories where the owner tries to put the caretaker at blame with a lawsuit.


Maybe you can take some peace in knowing that she probably died a tad more comfortably than she would have in his care.
People like that should NOT own animals.