From:
Mary H Parker
Date: 2004-07-17 13:21:44 UTC
Subject: Transient lethargy
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-id: <5.1.0.14.0.20040717090637.00a004e0@mail.shtc.net>
Last week my 9+ year old MF female ferret, Wheezy, had a lethargic
spell.....just kind of hung in my daughter's arms as she held her when
normally she is squirming to get away after about a minute or two of
cuddling and kissing. We forced her to take some Nutrical which seemed to
perk her up a bit. Then she ate some canned cat food (a goodly amount),
and drank quite a bit of water. She ran around for about 10 minutes, then
crawled back into a sleep sack, but kept her head sticking out which is
unusual for her since she normally likes to be completely hidden from view
when sleeping.
About ten minutes after this, she crawled out of the sack and laid out flat
on the floor. Her breathing was non-labored, she was moving all her
extremities and she was alert. But I felt something was wrong, so I drove
her 60 miles to the nearest emergency clinic with an exotic vet.
Upon arriving there, she acted perfectly normal.....active, wiggly and
alert and curious. They kept her overnight, and in the morning (after
she'd not eaten for about 12 hours since she wouldn't eat anything they
offered her), all her lab work was fine.....except what the vet said was a
'borderline' blood sugar. It was 71. But with that reading of 71, she was
active, coordinated and alert.....not limp and listless as the day before.
(Could the fact that she'd not eaten in 12 hours have been why the blood
sugar was 'borderline'?) I brought her home with the vet's suggestion to
watch her, and get a blood sugar redrawn in a couple of weeks.
Since the day after coming home, she's been back to her usual self. Eating
and drinking fine, poops and pees normally, and activity level back to
normal too. Of course the vet mentioned the possibility of the beginnings
of insulinoma.....but (after a long, drawn out post) my question is this:
Do ferrets get anything akin to the 24-48hour *bugs* that us humans get,
and since she seems perfectly fine now, could that have been what happened
to her?
And just for reference purposes, what lab tests are included in the TN
panel I keep reading about?
Thanks.
Mary Parker