illness

Question
We have a ferret, Felix, that we've had for about 4 years. Not sure of his exact age but he is blind from cataracts so vet says he's got to be up there.About a week ago, when giving him his monthly bath I noticed that his hair has begun to thin quite a bit. I'm able to see his skin through his coat on his back and his tail seems rather thin also. I'm concerned about it being adrenal disease but don't know what other symptoms to look for. Then yesterday he started having fits of sneezing (I'm not sure these are related) and behaving as a human does with a cold..seems mopey, he would sneeze so hard for a minute or two then be out of breath but as soon as he tried to settle into his hammock he would start sneezing again. I've got a vet appt for him tomorrow but I'm wondering if there is anything I can do in the meantime. He seems somewhat better today...sneezing has let up to only occasional bouts. Thanks for any recommendations you can make.

Answer
Hi Brenda:

Are his eyes watery too?  Ferrets can get  colds and flu. They usually last 3 to 5 days. Best to keep him warm add an extra blankie in the cage, put a cool vaporizer nearby if you have it. Get him to drink extra fluids by dribbling Ferretone on warm water to encourage him to drink it. Offer him watered down warm apple juice or warm grape juice (NO CITRUS).Treat just like you would a small child. Let him rest, get extra fluids and if he appears to be congested you can give him .5cc of CHILDRENS LIQUID BENADRYL (only - NOT cough medicine or any other substitute) every 6 to 8 hours.

The coat thinning is probably early adrenal. Keep an eye on it for further symptoms. There's not much you can do in the early stages. If they operate too early, the tumor can possibly be too small to locate, so you don't want to go in too soon (happened to one of my ferrets who is now on Lupron even tho he had surgery).   I don't every recommend Melatonin because of a seriously negative experience I had with it with one of my ferrets. If she's too old for surgery, the next thing I would recommend is LUPRON DEPOT (6 month). I haven't heard of anyone using the monthly one successfully yet - I think it's a waste of time and money, but that's just my opinion from folks I've talked to and my own personal experience. Because of her age, you might want to start her on the LUPRON DEPOT. If you decide to do that, write again and I'll be happy to give you the name of the pharmacy I use - they do a lot of ferrets lupron and make it really easy to get, to pay for , and it's in your mailbox in just a couple days after you order it, then you take it to the vet's office with you to be injected (it has to go into muscle, so I don't recommend trying to do it yourself, even if you're experienced with subQ's).  Anyway, hope that helps. Take care of that little girl and let me know if I can be of further help.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers