From:
rick a kacer
Date: 2003-05-26 03:40:37 UTC
Subject: Heat Stroke/Exhaustion?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20030525.224040.164.0.trickydick20@juno.com>
This is directed to Vet's that monitor the group on a regular
basis. Can Ferrets suffer heat stroke or exhaustion in conditions that we
might consider comfortable? The reason for the question is, that when we
let the critters out to play this evening, all were excited as usual to
be out and about. Pepper our four year old seemed normal at first, and
within a few minutes became very lethargic, weak and seemed to be gasping
a little. Her mouth was also watering to the point of dripping. I didn't
want to do anything drastic for fear of complicating the problem, so at
first I took her outside and let her lay on the grass which was cooler
than the floor. This perked her up a little,and after a few minutes she
wanted to explore. I brought her back in because I wanted her to take it
easy,and she went back to just flattening herself on the floor. I decided
to take a slightly cool wet wash cloth and wet her fur a bit. As she
dryed off she seemed more lively, and at least started to act more like
herself. After we cleaned the cage we gave all the fuzz balls a cool
bath, which they really seemed to enjoy. Pepper got it first, and by the
time the last one got it, she was almost dry so we wet her down again. By
the time we put them back for the night, Pepper was pretty much back to
herself. I guess that I should mention that Pepper has a rather thick
coat,and has always been on the plump side, except when she lost so much
weight when she had her Liver troubles. This is probably a good time to
address this issue as warm weather will be around for awhile. I welcome
any and all comments, and will close by adding that I will be checking
with my Vet. tomorrow to see if he wants to see her. Rick
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