Message Number: FHL11114 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "yoni_r_20"
Date: 2010-03-16 19:02:20 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] URGENT - Sick ferret with no clear diagnosis.
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com

Hello everyone. We have a 10 months old male ferret named Rocco. 6 days ago he started showing signs that something was wrong, mainly staying in his bed all day and not coming out to play, plus a clearly noticable "clenched in" stomich (makes him look skinny and stumble) together with squinted or shrunken eyes and general weakness. He's hospitalized ever since.
It all came totally out of the blue, as only one day before this ferret climbed a 6 stories building (leashed, of course) and was totally playful and energetic as ever.

Background:
We have Rocco since he was 70 days old, he's not locked up in a cage or anything, but rather roaming freely in a 5 bedroom apartment. He's been eating nothing but the best food we can get for him (Royal Canin for kittens) mixed with designated gerrets food, and a bit of boiled chicken every couple of days. This ferret is never left alone for more than couple of hours; he's always with us, following us around the house and getting loads of attention, so if this deterioration would have been gradual or progressive we would have noticed before it got down to this. This is a super strong and healthy male ferret, weignting (at 8 months when we last weighted him) 1.4Kg, very active and playful.

*His Current Stats:
Right now he's been to two doctors, he's getting 3 different types of wide-spectrum antibiotics. When we first got him to the clinic his temp was 41.3(!) and he was trembling and shivering occasionally, wouldn't eat, and drink (well, bearly). He has a weird color feces (greenish and slimy, although yesterday it startedgetting dark brown, darker than normal) and very little of it too.
His X-ray screening (attached) showed nothing but slightly over-sized kidneys (Doc said about 20-30% enlarged) but no signs of digestive system blockage as we first though. His blood test didn't show anything wrong or abnormal other than a minor anemia.

*Other Symptomes:
1. Temp gowing up and down, from 38.5-41.9C. he's getting Optalgin (aka Dipyrone) to get keep his temp down, and its working but only while he's under its effect.
2. Extremely weak; you can bearly tell if he's awake or asleep. doesn't walk and hardly moves at att.
3. Won't eat or drink by himself (been getting sub-Q hydration and fed by putting the food into his mouth)

*Tests and Results:
1. Two X-rays were made, one 5 days ago, one today. the showed nothing wrong but the slightly enlarged kidneys as mentioned above.
2. Blood smear - didn't show anything very unusual (I'll post the exact data if need, if there's a Doc in the house)
3. Ultrasound screening - showed nothing wrong.
4. They did discover two defects though:
a) His penis is damaged, looks like a trauma (bad fall maybe?). it ain't broken, yet it look like it went off the bone, and the color is purple rather than pink.
b) his anal glands were swollen as if they didn't drain out for some time. one was easily drained by pressure, the other didn't and had to be drained using a needle.


If there's any other useful information you need- please tell us and we'll supply!

PLEASE - WE MUST SAVE THIS FERRET. WE'LL BE THANKFULL FOR EVERY EDJUCATED GUESS, EVERY DIRECTION OR LEAD THAT CAN GET HIM THE RIGHT TREATMENT.





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