Moose’s story
Moose came to us one day early in 2003 when I was feeling under the weather. He spent most of the next two days cuddling with his new dad. He quickly became my favorite and tended to get away with a bit more than the others because he knew dad would stick up for him.
One morning I went to say hi and he seemed to be stuck in his blanket. When I took him out of his cage his hind legs would not work. We took him to the vet right away and after x-rays and other tests there was no readily apparent cause. He appeared to be in pain so we started a treatment of painkillers and steroids. Over the next couple of weeks he started to move his legs a little but it was apparent that any recovery would be slow.
My wife contacted Eddies Wheels www.eddieseheels.com and they were looking for someone to test their ferret wheels. We took measurements and sent them a harness that fit him. A couple of weeks later they sent his new wheels. The original wheels were a bit too tall for him but I am an engineer by trade and made some modifications to the design. With the new modifications that put his hind legs closer to the ground he was mobile again.
Unfortunately during the couple of months leading up to getting his wheels my little Moose was not eating well and was loosing a lot of weight. He was also depressed most of the time. We took him back to the vet the day his wheels arrived. Ultrasound testing showed he was suffering from lymphoma. Follow up tests didn’t give us any more hope. The prognosis was very bad. It appeared to have started in or near the spine and was the apparent cause for his paralysis.
Moose only got to use his wheels a few times before cancer got the best of him. We helped him over the rainbow bridge in early March 2005. I am so glad that he had his wheels to make his last few days better.
|