From:
Bronwyn Williams
Date: 2001-12-21 21:58:00 UTC
Subject: MADDISON DIED LAST NIGHT - BUT I NEED ANSWERS
Hi - I have just joined your group and I live in Canberra,
Australia. Although Canberra is the capital of Aust. it is a
small town and the vets seem to know little about ferrets. 3
days ago our 1 year old female, Maddie, started having severe
seizures with some foaming at the mouth. We rushed her to the
vet and she was sedated with valium but the seizures continued
- although the severity of them lessened. A blood test showed
normal glucose levels but a reduced calcium level so she was
given 2 or 3 injections of calcium over the next day. The vet
advised she had not had any seizures after the second calcium
injection and suggested we add a pinch of calcium powder to
her food and bring her back in a week. We took her home and
put her in a quiet spot with food and water but she was having
constant seizures although they were not obvious unless you
were actually watching her so I suspect the busy vet practice
had not observed the continuing seizures. She was very
listless and sleepy, not eating or drinking - we dropper fed
her. I took her back to the vet early the next morning and
they did more blood tests which showed nothing. She rallied a
bit and ate a fair amount of soup but the vet phoned me to
advise she had slipped into a coma just after lunchtime and
she should be put to sleep. When we arrived at the vets, they
said she had come out of the coma, was walking around the
cage, had eaten more soup and they thought the calcium had
again done the trick. We took her home again but before we
arrived there she had slipped back into a coma. We kept a
constant watch for the next 3 hours and felt so helpless as
she continued having the small seizures, eyes wide open and
rolling, but deeply unconscious. At 9pm we made to the
decision to have her put to sleep and returned to the vet. An
autopsy showed everything (spleen, liver, bladder were all
fine although there was a tiny spot on her pancreas). The vet
said despite the spot, he was certain it wasn't insulinoma
disease. He did not open her skull but said he could only
conclude it was something going on in her brain. I just can't
understand how a healthy, energetic little bundle of mischief
- our sweet little Maddie - could have deteriorated so quickly
for no apparent reason. We have 2 other ferrets and they all
shared the same condo. The other 2 are fine. I need answers
and would be grateful if any one can provide us with
information.
Regards
Ozpopples