From:
"Foster3500"
Date: 2007-12-24 18:29:55 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Extreme Lethargy
To: <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
This is will be a fairly long post (sorry) but am desperate since it's the holidays and no vets are in. Here goes:
My husband and I are babysitting our friends three ferrets while they are out of town. We got them last Wednesday (today is Monday). The little boy, Elliot, had been having something going on for a couple months his mom said where he was just "lazy". He was still eating well, pooping good and drinking good. He was gaining weight and his coat is beautiful. However, he got to where he didn't really play much and when he did, it was only for a minute, then he had to lay down and rest. Anyway, by last Friday, he was so lethargic that all he did all day long was sleep. He wouldn't even try to come out of the cage. I took him to my vet (we have 9 of our own and have been fuzzy parents for 8 years) on Friday. He checked everything possible and did xrays and nothing. We checked blood sugar at home and it was 103; no insulinoma. However, my vet didn't do bloodwork. By Sunday, this little boy was basically in a coma. He was breathing and that was it! Unable to hold his head up, unable to walk. Thru research and the process of elimination, we decided he was suffering shelter shock on top of whatever medical problem he had been experiencing. Starting Sunday at lunchtime, we put him in a quiet bedroom, I started feeding babyfood and started pred and Clavimox ever 12 hours. I started syringe feeding every 2 to four hours and giving water in a syringe as well. By Sunday night, he was walking again and seeming interested in the baby food. By this morning he was nursing the syringe like a baby and was pooping and peeing as normal.
Does anybody have any clue what might be going on here? I think we can bring him out of the shelter shock, but the underlying medical problem is still a mystery. We are fearing lymphoma since the pred seems to have helped. But nothing showed on x-ray. Elliot was a rescue from an animal shelter about a year ago. We estimate his age at no more than 2. Any ideas appreciated.
Holly
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