From:
maine_guy_03901
Date: 2002-05-24 19:47:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Ferret won't eat or drink--vet doesn't know why
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., Jacqui Snyder <snyder@c...> wrote:
> If you reply to my question, please send your response to me
directly, as
> well as to the list.
>
> A 3-year old male ferret from a reputable small breeder has stopped
eating
> and drinking on his own. He will consume watery foods (duck soups)
and
> Nutrical if he is hand fed, but not otherwise. Without hand
feeding, he
> dehydrates and has to have injected fluid. He was given a course of
> antibiotics. Tests and x-rays are inconclusive. The only symptoms,
> besides anorexia, are watery eyes and less energy than his sibling.
What's
> especially worrisome is that the ferret just isn't regaining his
> appetite--this has been going on for about a month.
>
> He has been exposed to ECE, but this doesn't look like it at all.
He also
> escaped for about two hours and killed some baby wild rabbits,
about two
> months ago. It is not thought that they were poisoned, although
the vet
> looked into that possibility.
>
> The vet has considered poisons, illnesses from the rabbits, ECE, a
bowel
> irritation, blockage, ulcers, and a few other possibilities. The
only thing
> that's clear at this point is that we have a sick ferret.
>
> Does anybody have an idea of what is wrong with this little guy?
>
> Thanks,
> Jacqueline
> Jacqueline Snyder
Last year one of my ferrets would not eat or drink. I was away on
business and the guy taking care of them had not noticed. By the time
I got home the situation was severe. I took him to the vet, but my
vet has limited experience with ferrets. After a regimen of
antibiotics he did not seem improved, and I then took him to an
exotic animal vet who has lots of experience with ferrets.
He determined that the little guy had hepatic lipidosis, fatty
deposits in the liver that quickly develop when the animal does not
eat; in addition, this condition causes extreme nausea, which
prevents the animal from eating. He was not optimistic at all, saying
that hepatic lipidosis is almost always fatal. But he did emphasize
that it was vital to force feed him with a syringe, and that if he
recovered it could take months of force feeding by hand.
I prepared a concoction of 1 can of Ensure, 1 cup of Totally Ferret,
2 jars of Gerber chicken hot dogs ... all thrown in the blender and
thinned a bit with spring water. While at work, I paid a girl in the
neighborhood to come every 3 hrs to force feed him. I could not trust
him to eat on his own. He saw the vet a week later and he had gained
half a pound. But he still did not eat on his own.
I ended up force feeding the little guy for 4 months. I noticed also
he was at that point very spoiled. I started to catch him eating on
his own; he would back away from the food when he saw me because he
wanted to be spoiled some more. I reduced the amount I was force
feeding him, as well as the frequency of the feedings. Over the space
of a couple of weeks I weaned him off the hand feeding completely and
he was eating on his own. We returned to the vet, who said I had
worked miracles with that little guy. He is happy and alive today.
There is no doubt he would have died if I had not persevered for so
long.
The vet told me that when an animal stops eating for a couple of
days, it is very important to start to force feed because hydration
is vital. It should be the first course of action.
Dave