Message Number: YG12543 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Robin Sinex
Date: 2002-04-17 07:56:00 UTC
Subject: Shaking

Last night, I saw Brangwyn shaking in her hammock, which leads me to the
question of the moment: what does a seizure look like? Brangwyn's always
been a ferret prone to the shakes, but I always chalked it up to the "I
just woke up" shivers. Last night, she was curled up in her hammock,
apparently resting, when I noticed that the hammock was rocking a
bit. She was the only one in the cage at the moment, which meant that it
wasn't one of the boys, and the fan, while near the cage, doesn't blow
into the cage, so I didn't think it was that. Looking closer, I saw that
her eyes were partly open, and that she was shaking/shivering a bit, which
was causing the hammock to move.

When I adopted Brangwyn, the shelter mom didn't mention any health
concernes with her, and while the vet's never done any blood work, the
vet's seen her three times since December, and given her a clean bill of
health (Distemper shot, possible blockage, & Rabies shot). The vet,
however, seems to always be more ferret-knowlegable with each visit, and I
suspect that they were originally not very ferret-knowlegable, but have
been studying since they have me (and possibly others) for a client. No
proof of that though. Anyway, getting back to my question, does this
sound like something that should be checked out, or does it just seem to
be 'Gwynny's way? She doesn't seem to be in any distress, but I don't
want to overlook a symptom of something serious just because she seems to
be happy.

Another possible factor is that we had a hot day yesterday -- the first of
the year. The ceiling fan is on 24/7 until we cool off again, there's a
fan next to the cage (not blowing in, but circulating the air in
general) on a timer so that it turns on & off on an alternating hourly
schedule, and I set the AC to turn on if the apartment reaches 80. That
should make things cool enough for them, right?

Robin Sinex.
Brangwyn, Rhodry, & Nevyn
Ellicott City, Maryland