The following was in response to an inquiry FACT received regarding the extent of Mira's injuries and inquiring as to whether it may have been more humane to have her euthanized rather than facing a life of pain.
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Thank you for your note and for your concern about Mira.
First, let me assure you that our concern is first and foremost with the ferrets in our care. While we are a "no-kill shelter," we are also a humane organization and would never put our personal desire for life before the welfare and comfort of our charges. We even wrote a brochure - "Letting Go," - precisely because so many people struggle with when is the appropriate time to make the ultimate personal sacrifice on behalf of our friend's best interests. That is, to place the issue of life quality and comfort before one's own discomfort at facing the inevitable.
Mira will not require skin grafts. The burns she received were epidermal layer chemical burns that did no deep, permanent damage to her skin tissue.
The shoulder blade itself is dislocated. How much pain she is in at any given moment is difficult to assess. Ferrets (as any prey animal) are very adept at disguising pain because showing you are wounded could invite a predator's unwanted attention! However, we have observed the following.
Mira spends somewhat more than average time (for a young ferret) sleeping. I (along with our exceptionally practical and caring veterinarian - who is also the chief vet for the CT Humane Society), believe that her sleep pattern is a by-product of boredom more than discomfort. She very happily "ferret-snoops" any area and is presently housed with a young, but not overly active sprite - in a small, but cozy bathroom in order to help with her physical therapy.
Until her skin wounds heal, we cannot proceed with corrective surgery. Our vet feels that any such surgery would be, at this time, premature and he wants to see her skin fully healed.
When the time comes, she will first need exploratory surgery to ascertain the exact degree of her shoulder injury. There is a question as to what damage was done to the connective tissues. At the very worst, Mira will be permanently handicapped, but I assure you still very capable of moving around. The question will be the extent of her handicap.
We will have had Mira here for 4 weeks as of the 19th of September. Our vet has been pleased (and sometimes even surprised) with the speed of her improvement. She has progressed from only being able to walk back-wards, to moving backwards, forwards and sideways. She willingly plays inside a bag - obviously, she cannot bounce, leap or jump. But she loves to push her way though it. She has gone from being unable to lift her front paws to, recently, climbing into a small plastic tub with an approximately 2 inch high side. Previously, we thought she would never be able to climb without her surgery -- now we understand why our vet wants to wait and see healing can be accomplished by "Mother Nature"!).
If we thought Mira was facing a life of pain, we would mercifully have it ended. I have had to make that decision for several of my own ferrets and a number of FACT's charges over the past several years.
The most painful issues for Mira is that we are very aware of how a young 16 week old ferret should be acting and playing. And we know that Mira will never have that ability to run, leap and frolic like others of her kind.
For Mira, that is the ultimate tragedy.
I'll be happy to answer any other questions you may have. And again, thank you for caring enough to ask what for many people is a very difficult question.
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Additional update - 9/24/97
Mira continues to heal, and, we just recently noticed, has begun to grow some hair around the edges of her burns! How much hair she will re-grow is uncertain, but it appears that Mother Nature may be very forgiving with Mira. Her back is fresh with scarred but healing white skin. Some red, moist skin remains under her front legs, which has been slower to heal.
We have carefully observed how she manages to climb, considering her shoulder damage is roughly equal to having her arms glued into their sockets (you can get a rough idea of how Mira moves by keeping your shoulders stiff and imagining the arm cannot move in the socket. She can move her elbows, but her walk is suggestive of a wind-up toy moving side to side). When she wants to get up into a basket or up onto the top of a toy, she rears her entire body up similar to a rearing horse! It is truly amazing to watch how persistence and perseverance, not to mention determination, serves the physically challenged. I have learned to respect the body's capacity to heal!
Each day we bring her into a larger room without any other ferrets to bother her so she can walk around and exercise her muscles. It is encouraging to see how active she is! And I can say I do not believe she is in any pain. We are, of course, cautious when handling her so as not to aggravate her shoulder injury.
We wish to thank the readers of the FML and those visitors to our website who have sent donations on her behalf. FACT is holding all donations in a special "Mira Fund" for her eventual reconstruction surgery. At this point we do not have a veterinarian who has volunteered to do the surgery. We'll cross that bridge after her skin has thoroughly healed.
In the meantime, Mira comes out to "play" daily and loves to settle in a warm lap after she tires herself out - which can take a while. She is still a ferret and all nooks and crannies must be explored, even if she is a bit slow!
We will continue to post periodically of her progress and hope to update her photo on our website in the next few weeks.
Thanks, again, to all, for their words of encouragement and concern over little Mira.
Ann Gruden FACT, Inc.