From:
ferretsonly@hotmail.com
Date: 2002-12-18 15:30:20 UTC
Subject: RE: Asthma treatment?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <16777780.1040225420541.JavaMail.root@scandium>
>The shot has helped, but my question is what else can be done
>for her?
A friend had a ferret with asthma and her vet prescribed a maintenance medicine. I'm not sure of the spelling but it sounded like "theodore".
I recently had a ferret who was suffering from pneumonia (Scuttlebutt was ADV+ and I could not pull him through). Human asthma patients, such as myself, are given a nebulizer treatment when we are in an asthma crisis so my vet had me do nebulizer treatments on Scuttlebutt.
I obtained a human nebulizer machine and cut a hole in the side of a solid cardboard box. The hole was just large enough to accommodate the end of the tube (without the mouthpiece). I put 1cc injectable gentamicin (different delivery than the troublesome oral administration), 1cc MucoMyst, 1cc albuterol, and 7cc's sterile water in the nebulizer chamber. I would then put the ferret in the box, close the lid, turn on the machine, and hold him in there for 15 minutes twice daily while the medicine did its work. Scuttlebutt objected to the treatment for a short time but then seemed to accept it (maybe he was claustrophobic?).
The asthma medicine would not be consumed in 15 minutes so I was told to put the remainder in a humidifier placed next to the ferret's cage. I left the humidifier running 24 hours a day with the doors to the room mostly closed at all times. My vet had told me if I couldn't find a nebulizer machine that the humidifier delivery method could be used but it wasn't as effective.
This treatment is not cheap and some of the meds were not something that most vet offices routinely have in stock. However, the treatment would be effective for an asthma crisis.
Good luck.
-Carla