From:
Donald Dittman
Date: 2001-04-01 15:08:00 UTC
Subject: Can a kidney infection kill a ferret in one day - Ziggy's
dead
I had a six year old male neutered, descented and in good health. He had the
ECE when Franny (remember, Dr. Williams?) and my other ferrets had it in
Dec. Even though he started eating his kibble again and a bowl of Gerber's
chicken baby food each day, he never really regained his strength. He lost
about a pound over the months then stabilized. He was still having episodes
of diarrhea but since I heard that could occur and he was healthy otherwise
I was not concerned. Friday, he ate, played with his buddies and seemed
normal except maybe a little listless. I thought since I'd had to leave them
for four days with only my mom take care of them that maybe he was pouting.
Saturday morning he wouldn't eat his baby food but had a bowel movement and
seemed again tired but okay. Saturday afternoon I walked by his sleep sack
and noticed he was laying oddly in it. I picked him and he seemed sort of
limp. I offered him a lick of linatone which he refused and then I got
scared. I set him down and he tried to crawl back in his sleep sack but his
hind legs wouldn't hold him. I called the vet and said I was on my way up. I
tried the kayro syrup just in case but by then he became glassy eyed and
limp. It's a forty-five minute drive to my vet and when I got there the vet
said he had a massive kidney infection involving both kidneys. He gave him
an antibiotic shot and some fluids although he wasn't really dehydrated. He
asked me to leave Zigs and he would take him home where he could keep watch
over him. He called to hours later to say that Ziggy's kidneys had shut down
and he was gone. He asked if I keep poisons where Zigs could have gotten in
to them because he said the fast acting antibiotics should have helped him
if it was just an infection that it looked more like something toxic
destroyed his kidneys. There is nothing, I keep nothing poisonous around the
house as part of my ferret-proofing. Can you give me some help as to what
could have killed a healthy ferret in a few hours?
Thanks,
Laurel Dittman