From:
namelessboi@yahoo.com
Date: 2003-05-06 03:59:35 UTC
Subject: in hopes that it is not serious
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <5141884.1052193575205.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
oh-la.
we happen to have a problem. or, perhaps, not. as it is, i am not currently concerned about it, though it has posed a problem in the past.
now, to explain the it:
we have an older, neutered male ferret (approx. 4+ yrs) who has been a bit of a health case for us. he's had regular checkups (as both my girl and i are very paranoid parents), and, on a normal day, seems quite fine, if continuously tired. when we first got him (nearly two years ago), he was full of energy, however, the current lack is something we attribute to his age.
there were, though, problems, as mentioned above. the first was a very odd case of hair loss, which occured last october. the loss began at the shoulder blades and spread down, leaving his head fully furred. it also stopped at the tail, so we had a puppy with a furry head and a furry tail, but a bare body. we, of course, took him to the vet, who promptly took blood-tests, ultrasounds and x-rays, all of which turned up nothing out of the norm. we were given some medicine and told, from that, that it was most likely a seasonal change in coat, and if it hadn't returned by this spring, to bring him in for surgery related to insolinoma.
within a month, he had sprouted a new coat and everything seemed fine again.
in december, on christmas eve (before a christmas party we were hosting, as per usual miraculous ferret timing), we had a crisis. when he wasn't vomiting or having diarria, he was listless, completely lacking energy. of course, with the vomit and diarria, he wouldn't eat or drink.
we rushed him into the vet, who took him in as an emergency case. she took blood samples again, and again gave us some medicine (peniciline based). it didn't seem as though he would last the night, and the vet seemed equally concerned of such.
in the same way that he had the miraculous ferret timing, he also had a miraculous ferret recovery. he was diagnosed with a recurring bacterial infection, treated for it, and it seemed fine after that. however, since that time, he has lacked energy, sleeping fairly continuously, except for slight spurts where he gets up and runs around for brief periods of time, then goes back to sleep, for the most part. when he is up, he is very aware of his surroundings, and definately seems comfortable, regardless of whether he is sleeping or awake. as well, when introduced to something new, he does exhibit fairly normal ferret curiousity, and even when he was losing his hair, our vet told us that he seemed like a normal, healthy ferret from the energy he had. but, as mentioned, now he seems to lack energy.
i don't expect an immediate response, however i would be appreciative of any information/assurances that can be provided. it very well may be the case that he is simply an older ferret and is showing his age.
-k***.