From:
"Ulrike"
Date: 2008-12-18 19:11:34 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Severe lung and chest damage found at necropsy
To: "FHL" <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
My Wesley, 5 1/2 years, neutered, became ill yesterday. Or should I say he
suddenly developed severe symptoms. May I say upfront he was a happy,
healthy ferret as far as I knew, yesterday morning he still played and ate
normally and a few days ago I was out in the garden in the frost and he was
dancing around me the whole time. There's no way I would ever have thought
that he was severely ill. He coughed occasionally but not badly and not
often. That was all. Apart from that he was playful and happy, appetite
and stools/ urine normal.
So yesterday afternoon he suddenly looked flat, lethargic and depressed. I
took him out of the cage and he was weak when I put him on the floor. At
night he barely had the strength to walk, severe hind end weakness, also
increased respiratory rate and watery eyes. I hand fed him a little bit of
meat which he later brought back up. This morning he was extremely weak and
awful looking. It reminded me of acute heart failure. He passed stools
which were just mucus. I phoned the vets and took him in to be put to
sleep. My vet did and x-ray first which showed fluid in his chest and the
heart looked like maybe there was fluid between the heart and pericardium.
My vet agreed to put him to sleep.
The necropsy showed horrific changes in the chest. My vet's first words
when she opened his chest were "Oh my God" which means it was bad. Seeing
it I have no idea how he appeared so perfectly healthy. There was bloody
fluid in his chest, the right lung lobe looked completely destroyed, like a
piece of jelly. There was necrosis. There was some puss. It looked a
mess. My vet thought he may have had pneumonia, maybe an abscess in his
lungs which burst. I just can't get my head around it, he was still playing
yesterday morning. 24 hours later he was at death's door. Surely those
changes couldn't have happened in 24 hours??? But how could he have been so
ill and not shown it? I know ferrets/ animals are stoic but I would have
expected him to be at least quiet and sleepy, not running, playing and
dancing. The smell was horrendous, it already smelled bad when my vet only
opened the abdomen but when his chest was open it smelled like he's been
dead for a long time.
[Moderator Note: Warning. The pictures at the site listed are graphic and show Wesley's open chest on necropsy.]
Please, I would really like somebody to comment on this, I have taken pictures which are here:
http://www.ferretlove.co.uk/wesleypm.htm
I'm just really upset at this, such a sudden loss. Again.
Ulrike
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