wave the white flag, bad news comes in droves

School and practicum have been bummers lately (i.e. I'm experiencing ... conflict with others that's not doing me any favors in the evaluation department). So of course, bright and early, I find two voice mails on my phone (it's been acting up lately and not holding a charge). It's Pixie's vet. Apparently some of her bloodwork came in, and there were abnormalities in it that he had not expected, and needed to talk to me.

I called as soon as I got the messages, but the vet was busy with another client. Since I was on the clock for practicum, I couldn't take a long drawn out call, or wait around for when the vet was free in the morning to consult. I told them to call my mom and talk with her.

Long story short? There's reason to believe Miss Pix may have kidney disease. That's right, on top of adrenal, tumors and cancer, she could possibly have kidney issues. Now, Wednesday morning, instead of the exploratory surgery we had planned, Pixie will start the morning by having a needle inserted into her urethra and up into her bladder to extract urine "from the source," and have that compared to her blood work. If the same issues are seen, the surgery's off, and we're left with trying to nudge the suspicious mass in her intestines into a better position to view on ultrasound (rather than getting direct observation via surgery).

Problems don't end, do they? Add on top of that, this vet's anti-raw views, and he's making noises about high protein raw diet and renal issues ... which all evidence points to the fact that high protein diets are only truly antagonistic when the ferret is on KIBBLE, without protein readily available in the food (even high protein kibble has fillers that the body must first process and dispose of).

Still, I'm getting my big guys on a natural diet versus a raw diet (where the babies are still going to be on a predominantly raw diet, with some whole prey thrown in). This way the phosphorous-calcium ratio stays in balance, and the vet should breathe easier (he'd prefer whole prey to frankenprey, if I'm going to be "stubborn" about diets).

So far they're eating mice and quail, and by "eating" I mean Hiko LOVES the mice, and it's anyone's guess which of the others will eat them on any given day. But it's still progress compared to years before.

I know they'll eat chicks (but those are like candy, and not meals). I'm left with rats, gp's, and rabbits as my third source. I'm really not looking forward to THAT decision. The mice kill me as it is. I want them so badly not to be dead OR food, no matter it's doing my babies a world of good. It's still heartbreaking.

We'll see, we'll see, we'll see. I'm ready for some good news. I NEED some good news.

Please.