From:
Mike Janke
Date: 2001-05-02 15:45:00 UTC
Subject: Re: My very sick ferret
Marlena,
It sounds like your feret almost definitely has adrenal disease, for
one. There is not simple or inexpensive cure for this. Surgery is
the only cure, though there are some drugs that will treat the
symptoms. Unfortunately, these drugs are more expensive than surgery
in the long run.
The other symptoms, foaming, lethargic and convulsions could be a
result of low blood sugar caused by insulinomas. That is, tumors on
the pancreas. There's no simple cure for this either. But with good
supportive care and a relatively inexpensive drug, your ferret can
probably be maintained for quite some time without these terrible
symptoms.
I know your mom doesn't want to let you take her to a vet, but it's
very unfair to allow your ferret to suffer from these illnesses
without some form of treatment. In the meantime, please make sure
she is eating regular, high quality food. Feeding her in between
meals with some chicken baby food, which is high in meat protein, may
help to keep her blood sugar stable and prevent seizures.
Mike
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., Rachel Parra <parrafamily@j...> wrote:
> Two weeks ago I adopted a sick ferret. She had no hair on the
lower
> half of her body and the rest of it is thin and short. Between her
legs
> was somewhat swollen. She is very lethargic; she hardly moves at
all.
> All she wants to do is lay in my arms; I named her Snuggles.
>
> Last week, between her legs became VERY swollen, almost down to the
> floor! Then, one time I took her to say, "Hi" to Mom and she
started to
> foam at the mouth, and then started convulsing. I gently put her
on the
> floor and we watched her slowly stop. We thought she had died, but
she
> didn't! She was still breathing. I put her in her cage, with some
water
> and prayed for her health.
>
> My mom says that we can not take her to the vet. That would cost
too
> much. I tried to find out information about different sicknesses a
> ferret might have at the library, but could not find any
information.
> Does anyone have any ideas?
>
> Thank you,
> Marlena (age 9 1/2)
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