From:
"Amanda"
Date: 2011-10-10 15:42:48 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Unknown illness
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I have a 4 year old female ferret and I'm trying to find some suggestions or ideas as to whats going on with her or what I can do for her. Last tuesday she started off with very slight hind end weakness. I couldn't tell if it was weakness or her just not being quite awake. It cleared up after a minute and she seemed fine. The next evening she walked like she was drunk, alot of stumbling and falling over. I made a vet appointment for the first thing in the AM. Later that evening she started having drainage from her right ear. It started off dark brown and sticky/syrupy and progressed to a clear sticky yellow fluid and then back to light brown. By morning I could tell she had a fever. We got to the vets and it was 105, still had ear drainage and she couldnt walk at all.
The vet did x-rays with a dental machine, blood work and took swabs of the ear drainage. The x-rays didnt show any problems in her ear canal that he could see. They rate the bacterial level on the swab on a 1-4 scale and her ear drainage was a 2. Her calcium was a little low but not dangerously low, her white count elevated and he said her neutrophils were very very high, 82% (I don't have exact lab values) The vet called me later in the day after I dropped her off, said she was responding well to fluid and they were giving her baytril orally and in her ear and this was likely some kind of infection. She had to be syringe fed (didn't surprise me she hates A/D) and was walking pretty well and her temp was 103.3 so things were looking good. The next morning he calls me and said she took a turn for the worse. She was unable to maintain her temperature and she was having low grade seizures. They started her on Diazapam, gave her some calcium incase that was the cause of the seizures, warm fluids and clavamox because he suspected the infection could have spread to her brain. Later that night I was called again and her seizures hadn't stopped so they put her on a diazapam drip and her temp ran from 95-107 and she was not very mentally aware. Next day her temp was stable, the seizures stopped, slightly more aware but just wanted to sleep (This was last saturday).
Fast forward to today and her temp is stable, no seizures, they stopped the diazapam. He says she acts like she wants to be held but still won't wake up 100% and just wants to sleep, they had to put in a feeding tube to feed her. I think we are all at a loss at what to do. The vet said he's consulted specialist and no one has heard of a ferret having that kind/amount of ear drainage and that he knows it was some kind of infection but doesnt know what it was for sure without a spinal tap. I asked about brain damage from the seizures and he seems to think that its unlikely, but he was unsure how long she ran the high temp so that possibly could have caused damage.
Has anyone experienced anything like this before? I don't know if she'll come out of this, if there is anything we can do, or how long I should continue to let them put her through the tube feedings. I don't want her to suffer, if she won't recover I'd rather let her go now than keep putting her through this. It kills me because she was fine monday with no evidence of any illness. I have several other ferrets and none of them are ill, I treat with revolution so she didnt have ear mites. I don't keep any toxic stuff where she could have gotten into it, hasn't been outside or exposed to new ferrets, she's up to date on vaccinations (they were about 6 months ago). She's never had any other health issues. Any suggestions/idea's would be greatly apperciated.
Thanks
Amanda
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