From:
"Roary"
Date: 2004-01-02 00:15:06 UTC
Subject: Flu/virus problems with my guys
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <002701c3d0c5$7a1c5e00$26a12344@digitalcmp5a4v>
I'm having a very frustrating and devastating problem that none of my vets
can figure out. At first I got the flu (or what I call a super cold). I had
drainage,sore throat, left ear soreness, and a temperature for about 3 days.
About a week after I came down with it my guys started getting it.They were
all sneezing and hacking and each one had a day where they mostly slept.
At first it was kind of cute (not that I think sick ferrets are cute). They
had runny noses which they licked clean.They all in turn would be lethargic
for about a day then get over it and be fine except for the hack which
eventually went away. Simple cold, I thought. Then things got ugly.
Mocha (my 3.5 year old girl) started becoming lethargic. My wife called our
vet and made an appt. for the next day, but Mocha became severely lethargic
and my wife noticed dried blood/pus coming from her ear. She rushed Mocha to
the vet but she died as they were trying to start support.
My wife came home and noticed two others (we have 8 at this point) who were
feeling badly. All of these guys who were feeling badly had been through all
the symptoms of this "super cold" but had appeared to have gotten better. My
wife took Jaws and Taz to the vet immediately and they went on support - IV
antibiotics, steroids, and fluids. The next day we noticed Sid (our
youngest, about 1.5 years old) showing the same symptoms. I took him in to
see the vet that morning.
The symptoms Jaws, Taz, and Sid had were the same. They all had some kind of
outer ear abscess that had drained. When the vet examined them he found that
the eardrum was still intact. They had a head tilt. They were ataxic and
their balance was off, as if they had a hard time telling up from down. My
vet put them on Baytril (an antibiotic) and Tresaderm for their ears. I
really never noticed any difference with the Baytril. Over time they got
better, but still retained a slight head tilt and had some loss of
coordination. They seemed to be getting better. I thought that this was
going to finally be over.
Jaws started developing some severe ataxia. He bobbed his head and stumbled
severely when he walked, as if he didn't quite know up from down. I
Immediately took Jaws in to see the vet. During the examination the vet put
Jaws on the floor and he spun in circles as if in a panic. My vet did some
other physical tests and concluded that Jaws was blind. The vet also saw no
retina damage. This was about 2 weeks ago. The whole thing started around
the last week of November and Mocha died of this on December 2. All my
ferrets ended up with this ear infection. Puffy, Smokey, and Dusty had some
major blood/pus discharges while the others had minor discharges. All of
those ferrets, thank God, are fine to date. It never seemed to bother them
very much (at least as far as us humans can tell). They all got does of
Tresaderm.
Today Jaws is really ill. I dont' think he's going to make it. He is limp
and unresponsive at this point. Yesterday he was walking around fine, albeit
he only comes out for food and to use the litterbox. He would smell his way
to wherever he was going. He didn't really respond to sounds so there's a
possibility that he might also be deaf. He seemed strong and was eating
kibble on his own. I noticed that he's been having black tarry stools
lately. Presently he's laying on the couch. He ate quite a bit when my wife
fed him, but he's very unresponsive. He went to the bathroom right where he
was laying. I don't know what else we can do for him except to feed him and
make him comfortable.
Thinking about his weakness, his ataxia, and the tarry stools I did some
searches on the net for ferrets and viruses. From what I read, I thought
that maybe this might be ADV but I really don't know. How can I tell? This
whole thing has been a nightmare. I've spent $1500+ and I don't have one
idea about what this is and what I can do about it. I don't care about the
money aspect except for the fact that I don't have alot of money for vets
and meds right now. I'm really hoping none of my others develop any other
problems.
If anyone has any ideas about what's going on with my ferrets I would like
to hear them. I'm at my wits end here.
Roary & Yvonne
Albuquerque, NM