From:
lvmyphzbtt@earthlink.net
Date: 2002-11-16 22:44:52 UTC
Subject: Babies have flu! Need any advice available.
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <31166089.1037486692607.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Greetings all,
My sister is the asst mgr at a pet store that sells Marshall's ferrets. The other day a group got delivered and two of them were sick (if I understand correctly they just pick from a group at delivery time and she saw they needed help).
The little girl is a gorgeous champagne/siamese coloring and the boy is a sable mitt with a bib.
Uh, oh, I've already named them Buck & Chloe.
My sis was going to take them home to care for them till they got better, but I happened to be in the store when she got them in. Being a college student taking online classes, I convinced her I had more time to dedicate to the babies. She let me take them home to nurse them back to health.
It seems, and I hope this is the case, that they have colds/flu. But they have it pretty bad. Here's the breakdown.
Chloe: Crud is seeping out of her nose, eyes and her left ear (green/yellow snotty looking stuff). I peel the dried off her nose so she can breathe, but she fights me and it just continues to run. She eats a little (canned soft Iams kitten) and she eats it ravenously, she takes in plenty of water from the syringe, takes her medicine like a trooper and pees and poops. She breathes through her mouth initially after each care session but settles down to sleep closing her mouth. I'm still pretty sure she can't breathe easily through her nose, if at all.
Buck: After the first day of care at my house, Buck stopped having the snot slime coming out of his nose. He pees and poops BUT now he won't take much food at all, fights me with his medicine, but drinks his water staying hydrated. He looks better, and he certainly looks much better than his
sister, but it's obvious he's still sick. He has peed and pooped, but not last night or today.
Treatment/Care sessions: Every two hours (abbreviated sessions at night) I clean their noses and wipe a balsam and camphor remedy on their noses (Marshall's Ferret Rx Upper Respiratory Remedy). I also put a few drops of
it on the tshirts in the cage and cover it so that they're inhaling as much as possible.
I attempt to feed them Iams soft kitten food. Chloe was eating it last night but is refusing today. Buck nibbles sometimes but isn't enthusiastic. I give them both as much water as they want and they both take that readily. I always insert the syringe sideways and GENTLY push the water out of the syringe so
as not to aspirate them. I was given Clavamox by my sister and I mixed it up into drops. They get .5ml orally every 12 hours. They've had two doses so far.
I want these babies to get better, I'm really worried about them both. If there's any other advice anyone can give me to help their recovery along. I am ready, willing and open to any and all suggestions. Please help me.
Warmest Regards,
Dee
P.S. I've been advised by another ferret owner to feed them heavy whipping cream, and another ferret owner said she thought that dairy products were bad for ferrets with respiratory problems. Anyone know which it is, cuz they are sure lovin' that cream. I hope it's okay.
P.P.S. I am now giving pedialyte instead of water, any input on using that?