From:
wendiwestbrook@comcast.net
Date: 2005-02-24 08:45:19 UTC
Subject: Boogie has lost his bounce!
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <3408710.1109234719346.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
My name is Wendi and I am owned by four ferrets. One of my males, Boogie, has been sick since Christmas 2004. It started with a loss of appetite, watery eyes and runny nose. My money situation was not great at the time (whose is during the holidays?) so I tried to treat his symptoms by handfeeding a/d and chicken baby food mixed with Ferretone, Nutristat, and a little water. I treated his watery eyes and runny nose with small doses of Benadryl (0.2 cc). Boogie ate well, but started to lose weight. He became more and more lethargic as time passed. I became frustrated because I couldn't afford treatment for him.
Two weeks after Christmas, a friend offered to pay for the vet visit. I took Boogie to a vet that specializes in ferrets. He immediately suspected a blockage because he had something hard in his abdomen during examination. He stabilized Boogie by administering fluids and did an exploratory the next day. The vet did not find a blockage, but found a ruptured spleen (which was removed) and enlarged lymph nodes, one of which had an abscess. A sample for biopsy was taken and sent for analysis. Boogie was put on Amoxicillin and Baytril and sent home two days later.
Boogie started to improve, but then he started to slip back again. He started losing more weight despite regular handfeedings. We changed his medication, taking out the amoxi and putting him on Clavomox. We also added omeprazole to ease his stomach and encourage eating.
To make a long story short (too late), Boogie's medication has been changed nearly every week since then, adding Prednisone and carafate to the regime. The biopsy proved inconclusive; the report stated that they have never seen anything like it, but it was bacterial, and they needed a larger sample to pinpoint the source. That would require another surgery and that just isn't happening. This has already cost me over $1000 (and worth every penny) and he is too weak to just open up again.
I'm frustrated, the vet is frustrated, and Boogie is CERTAINLY frustrated at this point. Every week he's back at the vet's, making another change to an already elaborate medication/feeding schedule. Boogie has to travel to work with me on days that I cannot telecommute. He's just over a year old, and NO OTHER FERRETS in the house are ill. None. Just him. I'm at my wits' end. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Does anyone else have a word of encouragement? What am I doing wrong? I can't give up yet!