From:
tansyhl@yahoo.com
Date: 2003-11-17 01:06:41 UTC
Subject: RE: Severe Tremors and Ears
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <6870258.1069031201381.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Sorry guys, I am just catching up on posts since I've been up to my ears in sick ferrets.
One thing that I have seen cause bad tremors in my ferrets are ear mites. I have an 8 1/2 yo who almost looks like she has Parkinson's disease.(Yes, I am running a geriatric home for ferrets- of my 19 I have 5 that are 8 or older, and only 5 ferrets under 5 years old) I have found that when it gets really bad she usually has bad mites in her ears, and that a shot of Ivermectin greatly improves the tremors, though they don't completely stop. I have also seen ear mites cause a form of meningitis with high fever and sometimes even coma.
I'm not a vet, and there may very well be other things going on with 'Tasha, but she is not the only one I have had who has had tremors that improved with earmite treatmeant.
BTW, I have finally found a treatmeant for the unspeakable critters that works consistently. I take a 15 ml bottle of Tresaderm and add 1cc of Ivermectin to the bottle with a syringe. I use 2 drops of the mix in each ear once a week until all signs of infestation are gone, then once a month follow up if there are any signs of reinfestion. (this has been approved by my vet). For some reason this seems to be much more effective than Ivermectin alone either injected or placed in the ear. (Except for the tremors-they only improve with the injections) I've also tried Ivermectin mixed with propylene glycol to create a greater volume of fluid to better coat the ear, but again the Tresaderm mix is far superior.
Did you know normal ferret ear wax looks like ours? Amazing. I now have nice light brown waxy ear wax in my ferrets instead of those nasty black crumbles... Oh, want to see an earmite? You can actually see them move with the naked eye. Put some of that black crumbly stuff on a piece of paper. You will see these white dots moving around....yuck! They seem to be more active at night for some reason.
I hope this helps someone at some time, and it breaks my heart that I may not have posted it in time to help others...
tansy