From:
zus888@netzero.net
Date: 2002-08-19 17:57:12 UTC
Subject: possible allergy to ear cleaner???
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <30714228.1029779832405.JavaMail.root@scandium>
I do realize that countless potential allergens exist and are all around us=
. But what happened last night is strange, and I=92d like to get some inpu=
t from the forum. =
Bug is a large sable male ferret of unknown age. He had problems with his =
ears before and it had begun to spread to my other ferrets (an increased am=
ount of wax and black flat stuff).. When he began crying and whining when =
I cleaned his one ear, I sought treatment. I was given something that trea=
ts earmites. I noticed improvement almost immediately, but within a few da=
ys of treatment, I began noticing scabs on all ferrets=92 outer ears that w=
ould bleed when swabbed. I stopped treatment and resumed my normal ear cle=
aning protocol (i.e. putting ear cleaner on the swab and cleaning with the =
wet swab and putting the cleaner directly into the ear when the ears looked=
particularly gross). I don=92t clean ears very often. Usually, I don=92t=
have to. By that time I had to increase cleaning from once every other we=
ek to once a week. =
Last night, I cleaned Bug=92s ears and they were gross so I put the ear cle=
aner directly into the ear. He was very upset and was whining again. Afte=
r I put him down, he began running around, shaking his head, lying flat, on=
ly to start running around again like he was running from something. It wa=
s obvious (from the head shaking) that his ear was bothering him. Addition=
ally, he was panting (like the laughing wound they sometimes make). Oddly,=
though, the panting would continue when he was picked up by one of us. I =
called a ferret friend at my husband=92s insistence, and she suggested that=
Bug was just mad at me. The behavior continued and my concern grew. When=
I picked him up, I noticed that his paw pads were dark pink and HOT! His =
nose was dry and hot. He seemed to be burning up. I gave him a warm bath =
to cool him down a bit. I didn=92t want to give him a cool bath because I =
didn=92t want to shock him. I figured the drying off process would cool hi=
m off since we had the air conditioning on. We ended up giving him some li=
quid benedryl. He was still hot, though, an hour after that. =
Does anyone here know what happened to my Bug? My theory is that he is all=
ergic to some ingredient in the ear cleaner. The only other thing I did wa=
s give him ferretone for the nail clipping and tooth gel for his teeth. Bu=
t he=92s never behaved that way when given those before. He did act put ou=
t once before when I did his ears a while back. Any ideas? Much thanks! =
FYI, I think the ear cleaner I use is Marshall's but I'm not sure. It is s=
pecifiically ferret ear cleaner.
Suzanna
=