From:
sheziwa@gis.net
Date: 2005-09-29 01:16:14 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Strange illness - poss poisoning?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <112795254901@mx05.gis.net>
> Two days ago my 1.5 year old ferret became really depressed and would not
> eat or drink and began vomiting and straining to go to the loo without
> effect. The odd thing was that his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, paw
> pads were bright pink. The next day I also noticed he had an itchy pink
> rash all over his body.
This sounds alot like some kind of allergic reaction--
the kind of anaphylactic response to vaccines that is so common
for ferrets here in the U.S.
Your thought that he may have eaten something outside, or from
the compost heap, could be correct. He may also have been bitten
by an insect--a spider or bee?
It's good that he's improving but if you don't feel confident of your
vet's diagnosis you shouldn't hesitate to get a 2nd opinion--or at
least check out some other vets for future use.
Just a side note--it sounds like you waited a day from when the
vomiting and straining to poop began before taking him in? These
symptoms could also have been caused by ingestion of a foreign
body or other type of GI blockage. If that had been the case, waiting
could have led to a poor outcome.
I know sometimes we'd rather wait to see if a problem resolves on
its own and saves us the trip to the vet (and saves stressing the
animal unecessarily) but sometimes it's better to act fast.
Just my 0.02$ and no I'm not a vet :-)
Skyla