Message Number: YG12458 | New FHL Archives Search
From: sukieferret
Date: 2002-04-13 14:31:00 UTC
Subject: Re: treatment for a upper resp.

BTW, unless the patholoigy data has changed they don't get
colds. They do get other infections and a few have had
respiratory allergies.

There are a NUMBER of OTC cold remedies which have
ingredients that will KILL a ferret.

PLAIN Benedryl is safe for them but will tackle allergies rather
than infections.

Ingesting shed fur in the the shedding seasons (Spring and
Fall) can cause coughs, and these coughs respond to fur ball
remedies like petroleum jelly based ones: Laxastat, Laxatone,
etc. These are usually very short bouts but may be loud.

Bad coughing can be caused by a serious infeciton or by one of
the possible causes of ascites and edema such as
cardiomyopathy, liver disease, or kidney disease (to name 3) so
a persistent cough, or a marked one always needs to be
checked out by chest x-ray.

At 6 years old and esp. with her drinking a lot I'd want to do that
chest check and other checks esp of kidney health. Her age
calls for more chekcing, anyway, as you know, since she is
leaving middle age and entering old age.

A few years back we had one of the same age who had a minor
cough bu tti stayed with her so we set an emergency
appointment. The vet couldn't hear anything wrong but from x-
rays (and later on ultrasound) we found out that she had both
pneumonia and pluerosy. Treament saved her life.