From:
Jen Phillips
Date: 2005-12-26 22:34:13 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Big Belly
To: FHL <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.
I'm writing in hopes of getting some help from you all once again. I
have a sweet 6 year old spayed girl named Fria who, over the past 2
months or so, has gotten enormous in size, which is very unusual for
her. I'd give you a comparison weight from a few months back, but my
previous vets scale was very inaccurate, but current weight is 1,250g.
This really doesn't seem to match her size anyhow, as she seems much
larger than her weight reflects. She is much bigger than I've ever seen
ANY of my gang get in the winter, and it happened very quickly. Her
abdomen feels different to me than the others too. It's pretty firm,
almost like she's full of air. I put a photo of her belly in the
Pictures section. My album is called Jen's Ferrets and it's the only
picture in there right now.
I'll tell you a little about her so you can see why this worries me so
much. Her medical history is pretty simple. She had her right adrenal
gland removed last October. Otherwise she's been as healthy as ever
until now. She is normally sleek and very muscular. She is normally
very active, and interested in everything, quite a busybody. She has
always been a very clean, well kept ferret. She has always been our
best at litterbox usage. Lately she has become very lazy, ignoring some
of her favorite activities. She hasn't been cleaning herself, we have
to clean her bottom regularly, she's been going potty everywhere but the
litterbox (I don't think she can get into it), and she just generally
seems disinterested in any activity. Her breathing has gotten heavy
even when she's laying still, but is even more so after any activity,
like a simple short distance walk. She struggles just to get into the
cage which is only 1-2 inches off the floor with a nice ramp to get in.
In fact walking has become difficult for her, because she is so big that
her little back legs just can't support her rear end very well anymore.
She's also has seedy, soft stools most of the time.
I've already had her to the vet for this twice since the beginning of
November. Her spleen is enlarged, but otherwise everything seems ok.
Her heart and lungs sounded great, much to my surprise. The vet also
took blood for a CBC and Chem. Nothing unusual there either. I will
try to get those results up on my website ASAP so that anyone who's
interested can take a look. We're stumped at this point about what
could be going on. It would seem like she's just an overweight ferret.
She has been eating like a pig, and I'm sure being as heavy as she is
would make her lazy. We hoped that her food intake would even out and
that she was just a bit chubby, but she just continues to get larger.
I'm afraid we might be overlooking something more serious. She just
doesn't seem right to me. She hasn't been herself, and she just doesn't
look right to me.
I've been trying to get her to exercise, but she just wants to lay
around or cuddle. She has free roam of a room, as she has for years,
but she has lost all interest in her former trouble-making and
exercise. Just last night I tried to get her interested in playing with
a plastic bag (supervised), which has always been a favorite game of
hers, and that ended with her biting and hissing at 3 of the other
ferrets, one she bit in the face and wouldn't let go. This is not at
all normal for her.
My new vet is very open to new ideas from others, and really wants to
help Fria, but is not sure what could be causing this. Are there any
other health issues that could cause something like this? If not, then
how would be best to help her lose weight? To change her diet without
causing problems for my others, I'd need to separate her, which would
mean caging her. I'd hate to do this, since I'd feel like I'm adding to
her lack of exercise when I'm not here to supervise her, but I'll do
whatever it takes to help my dear Fria. My vet and I really need to
figure out what can be done for her as soon as possible. This has
happened so quickly, and we really don't know why, but it is becoming a
quality of life issue and will likely cause her other health problems if
I can't help her soon.
I'm sorry this was so long, but I thought that the more info I gave, the
more someone might be able to help.
Any ideas would be a great help. Thanks in advance.
--
Happy Dookin',
The Hidey Hole Gang - http://www.hideyhole.org/
Jen, Mike & The Critters
The Ferrets - Loki, Fria, Vivi & Duke
The Rats - Ruby, Selphie, Boo, Rikku & Trillian
Missing Jamocha (ferret), Algernon, Plato & Mystique(rats),
Punk (hedgehog) & Dixie (chicken)
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