From:
Steve Austin
Date: 2001-06-12 12:07:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Katherine Kingsbury's Fleas
Rebecca wrote:
<snip>
. I've never seen a flea on
my babies..I check often. But what if I became
complacent and assumed that since I hadn't seen
any fleas in months, there shouldn't be a
concern. Once again, a simple matter that took
the life of sweet family friend. I can't tell you
how horrible I feel. :(
_____________________
Just so others know, the amount of fleas that would
need to be on that ferret would be quite obvious,
no need for a careful check. I think the fleas can
actually make the animal very anemic and that is how
they would die, but that would be a lot of fleas to
drain that much blood. I may be wrong about that.
When my ferret had fleas I had never seen one before,
and I didn't have other pets and didn't think of fleas right away.
However, there were these small bugs climbing on my ferret
and I could see them without much looking.
I know that there were many more
and just had to split the fur to see these, and I am sure
they were there quite awhile before they became so
obvious to me. I actually caught one and saved it to show a
friend who confirmed that they were fleas.
I didn't know anything about fleas so I went right to the
vet and got shampoos, carpet sprays and took
care of the problem.
This was a case of neglect, and there was no reason
that fleas had to be the cause of death of any animal
that is a pet. A sicker animal or a kit, or kitten would
be much more susceptible.
Patty
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