Message Number: YG10457 | New FHL Archives Search
From: miamiferret
Date: 2002-01-24 13:12:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Frank Died Now What About Louie?

I'm very sorry to hear about Frank. You have my most sincere
condolences.

A week ago I would have said I never heard of gastric torsion in a
ferret. I believe one of the vets here also said it has never been
reported. But, someone did post here that their vet diagnosed their
ferret with that condition within the last week or so. X-rays of
this ferret have been uploaded to the Photos section, though I don't
know that the condition has been absolutely confirmed. In any case,
I would have to say that it is extremely rare if it happens at all.

In ferrets, a blockage is MUCH more common. They seem to love to eat
things they're not supposed to eat, like rubbery things. X-rays,
with or without barium, do not always show these blockages. And I
can attest to the fact that they don't necessarily show up from
personal experience when we had two, dime size rubber disks removed
from Sid's stomach a number of years ago. X-rays taken trying to
determine the cause of his problems revealed nothing. They were only
found because we did exploratory surgery.

Personally, I have never had a ferret become depressed when his
companion died, and I've lost a few. But enough people report it
that it is a very real concern. I would say you should give Louie
lots of lovin' for a while. Others who have experienced this may
have other suggestions.

mike


--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Dawn Hall" <DinoToo@m...> wrote:
> Hello, I wrote a message yesterday (1/23 VERY SICK FERRET PLEASE
HELP!!) about my boy Frank, who was very sick and consequently died.
I still have some questions about that, chief among them being how
common is "bloat" (torsion of the stomach) in ferrets? If my dog had
presented with symptoms like this, I would have said it was that
immediately. Also I received some information that obstructions may
not have showed themselves on a regular Xray. Is this common. Is
there a good chance we would have missed it because all we did not
proceed to surgery immediately? Just kinda trying to find out why
this happened to him. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
>
> My next concern is my Lil' Louie. He is all alone now, for the
first time in his life. He and Frank were always a team. Will he
get too lonely without him now? He seems to be kinda confused right
now, kinda hunting around for him then looking at me like "what did
you do with my brother?" My main concern is that his loneliness will
progress to the point where he is physically affected by it. I that
a possibility? I may be ready to get another friend for him
somewhere down the line but I'm not ready to even think about it
right now.
>
> TIA for any and all responses.
>
> Dawn Hall
> Butte, MTGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download :
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