Saturday, January 21

December 14th - January 14th

On January 14th my partner and I went out to Logan and Sapphire's enclosure to give them breakfast only to find that Logan who was still sleeping will never wake-up. . .
We were at the time and indeed are still shocked beyond words. He was making such progress and was so very happy, even just the night before and now to find him curled up dead. . . It was just so very shocking.

Somehow just looking at him curled up with his tail over his nose, the exact same way that he sleeps I knew he was gone yet I could not believe it. My partner checked him for a pulse and there was none. His body was becoming more and more stiff yet he was still warm from where Sapphire had been curled around him all night sleeping.

I burst out crying. Sapphire started licking away my tears as she was unsure why I was crying. At first I thought that this was as she knew Logan was gone but she had no idea, she thought Logan was still asleep so she went over and licked his face. She then nuzzled his head but she still seems to have believed he was sleeping. . .

We waited for a while with Sapphire before moving Logan's body, if an animal sees their friend is dead it is meant to help the healing process but no matter how long we waited she still did not understand. I called the vet and said what had happened and that I needed a necropsy urgently as whatever had killed Logan could possibly be a threat to all of my other fur babies. They agreed to do the procedure as soon as possible.

When we got Logan to the vet he looked him over and could not see any reason why Logan would have died so suddenly. Our vet had seen Logan multiple times over the mere month he was with us as we wanted to be sure that Logan's weight gain was steady as well as to give Logan both his distemper and parvo vaccines.

That evening when we arrived home Sapphire was sat at the door of her enclosure looking at the house. She called occasionally for Logan. We went out to spend time with her, she was not very interested in us but instead much more interested in trying to look into the house where she last saw Logan headed.  We stayed outside until she dosed off but when we went back inside she woke up again and resumed waiting by the door of the enclosure.

The next day we spent all day with Sapphire. We played with her and tried our best to comfort her yet when  we would cry she would try to comfort us which was very sweet but again whenever she was not entertained she would wait for Logan and call for him. Eventually we brought her inside which seemed like a good idea as we could not really sleep outside with her. . . This ended up being when she began to notice Logan was no longer here. . .

Upon entering the house she ran around looking everywhere for him; under the sofa, in the bath, under my duvet on my bed, everywhere and she started to have a bit of a mental break down. She started looking in all of these places again and again calling for Logan as she ran. She had no time for Sprite who wanted to play with her and pushed her out of her path, she was going to find Logan wherever he was. . . Or so she believed.

Eventually she fell to sleep, she was exhausted.

The next day we went and got her some new toys. We bought her everything that we thought would entertain her; Kong's, bones, chews, squeaky toys, tennis balls, ropes and dental chews which she adores as we decided we would keep her entertained to keep her spirits up. It helped a little but the best toy for Sapphire seemed to be Audrey, her 7year old human sister who apparently is brilliant fun to chase and watch Beverly hills Chihuahua with.

On January 17th the vet finally called with the results of the necropsy. It would seem that Logan's little heart just gave up when he was sleeping. The vet believes that it was caused by Logan's bad diet during the key stages of his growth so well before he came to us. The vet said that there was no way of knowing this would happen and that it is just one of those things. . .

Even though Logan was only with us for 1 month in that short amount of time he very much became an important member of our family.

Sapphire is still very confused but I think she is beginning to feel a little better. She is still not talking which is very, very odd but I am sure she will again in time.

So anyway, that's what has happened.

Before these recent events I really wanted to tell you all about how over X-mas Logan had been highly amusing but as I can't really talk about him without crying I shall past here the post I wrote on Sybil's den for you all to enjoy:


"So I was in hospital for a couple or days, not working which was odd for me as I have only been admitted to hospital a couple of times in my life. It was just very bad tonsillitis so no big deal. I am allot better now. 


ANYWAY when I was in hospital everything went wrong for Mr Elina; he fed my African Pygmy dormice and one got out which he could not catch and even after 24 hours has not gone into the humane mouse trap. He had to deal with Valla being of the belief that he had hidden me so she could not see me so she grunted at him whenever he went near her and argued with him when he put her to bed. Mr Sapphire climbing out of his enclosure. . . TWICE!


Mr Elina saw him the first time and was very confused. When he got over the top he came to the back door and Mr Elina eventually caught him, cut his nails which were quite long as we had not cut them yet as he is a bit freaked out by us and put him back. Mr Elina thought that he had jumped from the platform so he took that out too. A little while later he looked outside and Mr Sapphire was crouched atop one of the panels. Mr Sapphire then quickly got to the floor and ran off and as he had been caught once before he knew how to evade capture a second time. Mr Elina had to spend hours chasing Mr Sapphire around the 2.5acres (approx) he had access too eventually catching him and managing to put him in Sapphire's enclosure which has a roof. 


During this Sapphire tried to follow her man as it looked like he and her Daddy were having a blast but she just fell on her behind so I do not believe all arctics can climb BUT if one can I am guessing this is not some kind of oddity and thus others will be able too so make sure you put roofs on your enclosures. I think one contributing factor to Mr Sapphire's ability to climb is that unlike Sapphire he is underweight and thus it was much easier for him to manoeuvre himself. I am amazed that even with short claws he managed this. 


I just wanted to let you all know as I know a few of you got Arctics this year and though I am sure they are all nice and chunky right now come Summer time they might slim down and I don't want you all to be shocked at your foxes sudden cat like agility. "



Today Logan returned home, allot less furry and allot smaller. I have placed his ashes on the fireplace next to Freyja with his collar atop of him the same way Freyja's is atop of her.
I miss them both so much but at least now I can think that Freyja has a friend to play with while she waits for us at the rainbow bridge. . .

Logan

Sapphire and Logan

2 comments:

  1. Please take care of yourselves MR and MRS Elina. You are not bad people, as the fact that you have been able to care for 4 fennec fox kits, 1 corsac kit and 1 arctic kit proves.

    These creatures have the best home possible with you, being able to live years longer than they normally wood, being able to live life with lots of affection from people who have gone out of their way to care for them. I wish the best to all of you, and I hope that all of you recover soon.

    Yours sincerely, Leokisomma.

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  2. How heartbreaking. We started to follow your blog because my partner and I have been looking into the realities of owning a fox of our own.

    Starvation from a young age can effect the development of muscles... This I see in every runty baby mouse. Sadly, even if they live to make adulthood, their little hearts often can't support them. The best we can do is offer our animals the best we have, until such is the time they move on.

    Please accept our sympathies and hugs.

    Kage x

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