Older Ferret / Illness / Opinion

Question
Cassie, I have had my ferret "Meep" for aprox 7 1/2 years. He currently has "paradontal disease" (not sure of spelling) and I "believe" he is suffering from "adrenal disease". He has been to the vet numerous times in the past year but I only seem be dishing out money "guessing" games, since my vet isn't actually a ferret vet.

Well at this point I'm honestly into, putting off death of my little guy with lots of surguries or med's, BUT I don't want to put him to sleep until I feel that he's suffering and it's best!

Basically whats going on is his energy levels are pretty down, but he does get around well. He eatting habits have been up/down but have finally gotten consistant. He even like to cuddle up with me in bed, which he'd never done the first 7 years. The biggest issue now is that his belly is HUGE and feels like a liquid build up. I have not seen alot of urine spots and feel that his urinating has become a huge issue.

My question in is:

Based on his situation is it your "opinion" that he is suffering day to day with pain he's not showing me? or If he seems to act ok to me, then he's Not suffering?

Any advice to make his days easier?

Thanks

Mike

Answer
7 1/2 is a very long time for a ferret to live.

The first thing I would do is get him to a ferret qualified vet. If you can tell me what state you are in I could help out some. The liquid build up needs to be taken care of quickly especially if he is not urinating.

Is your ferret showing signs of Adrenal Disease?
Hair loss (usually at the base of the tail)
Muscle Loss
Potbelly appearance (this could be the liquid belly)
Lethargy
Orangey Skin
Weight Loss
Enlarged Prostrate

If so the vet (a ferret vet or exotics vet) will probably try Lurpon or Melatonin first.

Unfortunately I cannot tell you if he is suffering or not. It is always hard to make THAT decisions. With every pet I have had to put to sleep I have known that it was the right thing to do it just clicked that they were not living a happy life.

But I would at least take him to the vet first to get some answers. Otherwise you may be asking yourself if you did the right thing for a long time.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.