From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-08-21 15:00:30 UTC
Subject: RE: dry cough
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <3690556.1124636430604.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Ferrets don't get colds. There is info about that from ferret expert veterinary pathologist, Dr. Bruce Williams in the archives if you are curious.
We tend to always see a vet and always get chest x-rays when one who does not normally cough develops a cough.
That is because the things that ferrets get which cause coughing too often can be serious causes.
Cardiomyopathy is one example, and you want to begin treating that immediately. Heartworms can cause coughing and we saw if with two other heart conditions, A/V Heart Node Block, and a cardiac tumor. The first we were able to treat. (The second was an additional surprise medical problem in a badly multiply deformed and handicapped little one, Ruffle, for whom we managed to get 6 years of life but who finally developed something like over a half dozen separate fatal conditions simultaneously as well as several serious non-fatal ones.
Speaking of Ruffle, one of her problems from early in life was asthma. She was in our family a long time ago -- dying over a decade ago -- and we used pediatric Benedryl with no additional meds, but there are more recently approaches to respiratory allergies in ferrets.
Ruffle and I once traded a bad antibiotic-resistant sinus infection back and forth for about 3 months. Ferrets do get these bacterial infections; that is why a number of ferrets who show upper respiratory symptoms get antibiotics. Antibiotics treat for bacteria, whereas true colds are viral infections. (Some people loosely apply the term "cold" to sinus infections as well as to true colds, but that practice bothers me because a sinus infection is potentially much more serious than a cold even if it doesn't move on to cause a lower respiratory infection (which is a risk it can carry).
Despite the precautions we take Ruffle was also the only one to catch influenza from us, and that if another respiratory problem that ferrets get.
We have had one with severe pneumonia and pleurisy. Her only symptom? She was never a cougher but that day she coughed several times, and she also gently cradled my big toe in her mouth, something we had noticed that she only did when she did not feel well. She acted normally. Never the less, we made an emergency appointment -- which meant that she saw someone other than her usual vet. The vet could hear nothing wrong and was going to send us home but we dug in our heels for an x-ray. If we hadn't Meeteetse never would have had her additional years of life after that. The next thing we heard our usual specialist being extracted from another appointment room and then both vets came in to tell us that Meeteetse's life was at risk. As you know, it worked out right.
There are other possible causes: if your house air is too dry some will cough from that. If your ferret has begun the Autumn/Spring shed cycle then self-grooming can cause a cough-like glatch noise (so comb, brush, and use ferret laxatives with petroleum jelly in them in that case), sometimes a stomach problem like a furball can as well, etc..
It boils down to this: if the cause is serious you want veterinary treatment fast; if it is not then you get the reassurance that your ferret is fine. Coughing is one thing where it is safest to not spare the expense. I hope that all is fine on x-ray for your little one and the solution is an easy one!
Author wrote:
> My ferret has developed a dry cough. It doesn't happen all the time probably only two or three times a day. It sounds like a wheezing/sneezing kind of cough. I see no other symptoms of anything. He is very active and he is eating and drinking fine. Could this just be a cold? Is there anything I can do for him? Thanks.