From:
"EMorrow12"
Date: 2009-03-21 07:10:10 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Very sick ferret - don't know what to do
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi,
We have a female ferret, Jack, who is 6 1/2 years old. We got her about 9 months ago. She weighed 1 lb, 10 oz when we got her and maintained that weight until about a month ago.
She started losing weight gradually and all of the books and websites said that's normal. I started feeding her duck soup (commercial formula) anyway and she maintained her weight at 1 lb, 7 oz. Then she started losing weight again, although she was still active. Wednesday she was 1 lb, 4 oz and refusing to eat, even treats, but she seemed to be drinking.
Last night when I took her out of her cage and set her on the floor she staggered sideways and then flopped onto her side. She tried to get up but it took several tries and she immediately fell again. (She acted like she had had a stroke.) We took her to the animal hospital, where the vet said she was very dehydrated and had diarrhea but he couldn't find anything else wrong with her (he also said he doesn't usually treat ferrets). He injected subcutaneous fluids and sent her home with an antibiotic.
I'm giving her the antibiotic twice a day and I'm giving her very thin duck soup by syringe but I don't know how much to give her or how often. I've read that you should use sustacal, ensure or pedialyte but, again, I don't know how much or how often.
She was lethargic this morning but she seems better this evening. She has gone from letting the food/water run out of her mouth to trying to hold the syringe with her paws. She tries to walk a few steps, then lies down and wriggles on her stomach or side to wherever she wants to go. She does seem stronger and more alert.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what's wrong or what I should be doing for her? How often should I be feeding her? How much should I be feeding at a time? Should I be giving her pedialyte? Is there something other than the duck soup that would help?
I don't know of a vet in the area that treats ferrets and I don't know anyone to ask. In addition, we live in California so I'm very paranoid about having them treat her and then take her away.
And advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
[Moderator:
First off, if syringe feeding is done be sure to
have learned the technique hands on from a
member of the veterinary staff to avoid aspiration
pneumonia. Finger feeding often is sufficient
but it sounds like this one needed more.
Second, you said nothing about blood work. One
strong possibility here is a pretty common ferret
health problem, insulinoma, but it requires blood
work for know for sure. See:
http://www.miamiferret.org/insulinoma.htm
and
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/PDF/insulinoma.pdf
Slow weight loss within normal weight bounds is
not unusual in Spring but otherwise bears attention.
This ferret needs a vet who knows ferrets or the local
vet needs to learn if blood work was not done. The
vet will check for insulinoma and some other possible
causes.
California law permits veterinary care for ferrets.
To help find vets:
http://ferrethealth.org/vets/vets.shtml
Also look up Ferret News, Ferrets Anonymous, and
any other California ferret association since the old
URLs I have for those don't work, and check in the
on-line versions of Ferrets Magazine and Critters
Magazine. If people have the current vet list URLs
for those, please share them.]
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