From:
Roger Vaughn
Date: 2002-01-28 22:17:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Mysterious Death
Shortly after we brought Digger home, he ran top-speed into my
girlfriend's ankle, nose-first. (He was chasing the cat.) It hurt!
He closed his watering eyes, jerked his head back as if to get away
from his nose, and gasped for breath a bit - obvious pain responses.
But five minutes later he was fine, if a little more wary of ankles.
I seriously doubt your friend's bump fatally hurt his ferret. Please
reassure him that while they are delicate creatures in some regards,
they are tougher than that.
Here's my unprofessional, lay guess. It could be that the bump stung
and scared her. That could explain the bowels loosening. The scare
may have let an underlying condition - a defective heart for instance -
come to the foreground and overwhelm her, sending her into shock. The
high BG definitely says something else was wrong - a bump on the nose
would not cause that.
Unfortunately, it's impossible to say exactly what happened without
performing a necropsy, and it sounds like it's too late for that.
I know your friend may not want to consider it at the moment, but he
may want to contact MF. This sounds like there was a congenital defect
involved, which MF should reimburse for or replace the ferret. (That
sounds so callous to me, but why not take advantage of it if he can?)
I'm so sorry to hear that she passed away.
Roger, Digger, Bear, Pepper and Badger