The Rayne Ferrets

08/21/2025

Little Lyr-Bear 🤍

She doesn’t do well in the carrier. Car sickness. So she gets to lay peacefully in my arms for the drive. She is so good. Waits until we get home to go to the bathroom. Such a perfect little girl.

08/20/2025

In case anyone was wondering, Raven 🐦‍⬛ and Echo 🥂 are still biters.

It’s fine. Everything is fine. 🙃

It can take weeks, months, or years for them to calm down.

These are not my worst mouthy babies, but they are taking the longest to convince to reduce their chompery.

We don’t punish, but we do disengage when they get too rough.

It is an interesting challenge. When one bites less, the other ramps up. Like two halves of a whole.

Only time will tell.

They are fairly happy and sweet babies otherwise.

08/19/2025

Shadow 🐻💗🐾

08/18/2025

Theo 💔🐾

08/18/2025

Shadow is home, comfortable, and starting treatment. ❤️‍🩹🐾

-——————————————

Shadow’s $1,221 Vet Day

When Shadow and Cloud started showing respiratory symptoms (random coughing, gagging, weird whooping sounds) and GI issues (strangely discolored, foamy poops), we knew something was wrong. What looked like potential organ or respiratory issues was actually severe gut bacterial overgrowth (clostridium + yeast). The f***l test revealed the real problem.

Each test ruled out life-threatening conditions. Ferrets hide illness until critically sick, so when symptoms appear, comprehensive diagnostics are essential. Shadow’s previous hormone implant from May 2024 also needed replacing.

Next steps: 21+ days of antibiotics for both Shadow and Cloud (twice daily Metronidazole), daily probiotics (Proviable Dog + Cat, 1 pill mixed in daily group soup), recheck in 2 weeks. Cloud and Shadow will go in together first week of September for more testing and physical exam.

Fortunately, we had already purchased METRONIDAZOLE (100MG/ML OIL 120 ML, $115) a couple months back and it is good until the end of September.

Here’s what comprehensive exotic care actually costs in Washington State at a 24/7 Emergency Exotic Vet Hospital:
🩺 Office visit: $75.00
📸 Full radiograph series: $327.00
🔬 Comprehensive bloodwork: $273.01
💧 Urinalysis: $74.15
🦠 F***l cytology: $40.95
📱 Ultrasound: $63.73
😴 Fear-free sedation: $75.00
💊 Hormone implant replacement: $292.42
-——————————————
Total: $1,221.26

SUPPORTIVE PRODUCTS
-——————
Nutramax Proviable Probiotics for Dogs and Cats, Daily Digestive Health Supplement with Multiple Strains of Bacteria, Cat and Dog Probiotics Plus Prebiotics, 80 Capsules
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08/16/2025

08/14/2025

Our sweet Theo has expired.
We saw him off to the stars tonight.
We did what we could, but
His body’s health challenges were vast.
He is and always will be forever missed.

07/23/2025

Tell me you rescue sick fluffs without telling me… 🙃

07/04/2025

You’re free to celebrate whatever speaks to you.

And I mean that.

Expression is personal, and I’ll always support your right to choose how you show up in this world.

That said, I’ve chosen not to celebrate July 4th.

I made that decision decades ago — quietly, firmly, and without needing others to join me.

To me, true freedom begins when you stop performing loyalty to stories that never included you in the first place.

It begins when you recognize how these narratives, no matter how beloved, have harmed so many, and still do.

I don’t need a flag or fireworks to honor life, freedom, or community. I honor them by living with awareness, integrity, and care.

So, if you’re lighting sparklers today, I hope you are safe.

And if you are holding space for silence or sorrow instead, I see you.

Whatever you choose, may it be conscious.

07/02/2025

Theo 🗿 enjoying peaceful rest on the couch with the AC on full blast.

My sweetest, chronically unwell boy. He’s the gentlest soul, so full of love, and it breaks my heart that his body keeps failing him. ❤️‍🩹🐾

He’s swollen again, nearly doubled in size. The surgery in April only bought us one good month. They removed two tumors and several other concerning growths. There were signs of insulinoma, but since his blood sugar has remained stable, they haven’t treated for it yet.

Now we’re most likely heading back to antibiotics and possibly starting Prednisolone this month after I check in with his doctor again. His movement gets harder as the swelling returns, but even through it all, he still finds joy in his day.

We’ve run every diagnostic, over and over. Surgery was our last shot at answers. There’s no clear path forward, so we are just managing what we can, moment by moment.

06/26/2025

This is how we traveled to and from the vet hospital today.

Maya gets car sick lately, so I hold and massage her and she falls asleep on me. Much better than vomiting in a carrier.

Thank you to Kat and Dr. Sneed for removing Maya’s stitches. She still has a little one on her head, but the others are out.

We received results back from the biopsy removals and I want to share them because everyone was a bit surprised.

I’m so thankful that Maya’s oncologist, Dr. Tripp, wanted all of the growths (even the flat ones) removed and that Maya’s surgeon, Dr. Sneed, was able to do so with good margins.

Out of 7 growths, 6 were MCTS with great margins and 1 was a squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

SCC’s are locally aggressive tumors and complete removal can be curative. This mass appears to be completely excised, though with narrow margins so continued monitoring of the site for recurrence is recommended.

Cutaneous mast cell tumors (MCTs) are common in ferrets, and are most often located within the head and neck areas (though they can be located anywhere).

These masses all appear to be completely excised, which is typically curative for ferret mast cell tumors. However, with the history of multiple mast cell tumors close monitoring for additional masses is recommended.

Overall, this has been a very successful outcome. Maya is doing a lot better generally.

She still faces the Lymphoma and associated challenges, but chemotherapy is going well (down to one dose every two weeks). She’s still on 10 daily meds to manage GI, pain, nausea, inflammation, and suppressive measures to manage the cancer.

She’s a surprisingly happy and playful baby though.

She takes the stairs either ease, loves to play, is enjoying her soups like normal again, and seeks us out for love and attention.

She loves sleeping in our offices while we work, which reminds us a lot of our late queen, Tassi.

It’s a lot of work and expense, sometimes tears, but we are very thankful we are getting more time with Maya 🔥