From:
autumn_whispers2me
Date: 2005-01-23 15:46:27 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Mystery Infection
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <2569862.1106500278338.JavaMail.nobody@magnesium.smartgroups.com>
Your veterinarian and your own gut feelings will guide you along the way about these decisions, but your vet should know also if your ferret is experiencing pain. When Boo-Boo was first put on the chicken gravy and A/D food, yes, his stools were very runny. It's really no different than switching a dogs or cats food completely, cold turkey. They'll get diarrhea from a food switch like that.
Pain, from what I'm told by our vet(s), can present in several ways, ranging from literally crying out or whining, vigorously pawing at the mouth, and teeth grinding. Boo-Boo was presenting both when he was at his worst. In fact, we saw the pawing at the mouth for the first time at the vet's when they gave him a few drops of nutra-cal. He went into an all-out panic, squeaking and digging vigorously at his mouth in such a way that I was sure he would cut his mouth badly. He didn't, but the episode was frightening.
Could the 'spasms' your seeing just be Shadow's muscles contracting from him having a bowel movement? If you have ever seen him prior to becoming ill having a bowel movement you would have seen his muscles contract, almost like watching them 'push.' I would think, and again this is only a guess, that if he were having spasms of some kind that were causing him pain that he would be making noises, but I can't swear that is the case or the case with every ferret.
When ferrets get sick they get so quickly, but in many cases they can recover just as quickly. But it all depends on the problem, etc. Boo-Boo got a virus once about a year ago. The night before he was acting normally, but the next morning he wasn't eating or drinking, and he became dehyrdated within hours. I was also new to ferrets then and had no idea what to do and was living in an area/state that I was unfamiliar with. I called a local vet, we took him in, they put him on IV fluids, then he came home the following day his normal self. BUT, there are situations where the healing is slow, like in his situation right now.
As someone else mentioned, if Shadow is eating on his own then you're not even having to force feed him. This is a good thing. I had to literally force-feed Boo-Boo in the beginning and he flat did not want to eat anything whatsoever and fought me every step of the way until the medication began to heal his stomach enough to lesson the pain from the ulcers.
I would definitely talk to your vet again. Are they still actively pursuing trying to find out what's wrong?
Yoehle@aol.com wrote:
Thank you so much for your reply. You have no idea how your email helped
me. I have cried for days over him. He just seems so pathetic. How do you
tell if their in pain? All I know is how he appears to be at deaths door. It
makes it really frustrating when they can't tell you what exactly is wrong.
Shadow is my first ferret so this is all new to me. I just can't believe how
fast things have gone down hill. I thought maybe he was getting better
today and then tonight he started having diarrhea. His stomach is just spasming
I assume from cramping. He doesn't make a peep but it looks awful. He is
used to hard foods do you think the new food being soft could do this? Did you
experience this? It just hurts me to see the swelling, the lethargy and
now this. They have me feeding him 4xper day and at least 4 TBSP per day -
sure seems like a lot. Anyway, sorry - didn't mean to go on, just read your
email and wanted to thank you for sharing your experience because I really
didn't know what to think. It gives me hope. Thank you.