URGENT - FERRET COULD BE IN TROUBLE.

Question
Hello. I have a 5 year old female ferret. I don't usually look at her pee (its usually on wood pellet litter), but today she had an accident on the newspaper.. Her pee was orange-ish and there was A LOT of it. Does it have blood in it? Could the newspaper change the color? The ferret eats Mazuri Ferret food, and lives in a good, steady environment with 3 other males ferrets. Anything helps! Thanks.

Answer
Hi Jessica,

I don't mean to alarm you but you may have a life threatening situation on your hands. Orange urine can mean dehydration or a problem with her kidneys, possibly kidney failure. Either way, this little girl needs to see a ferret vet NOW. This a serious emergency and she may not make it much longer, especially if it is dehydration. Has she been drinking normally? Eating normally? Pick her up and scruff her, gently. Did the skin snap back or did it stay tented? If you were to touch her gums, are they wet or are they pale and tacky to the touch? If either of those things happen (if her gums are tacky and/or her skin stays tented) that means she is seriously dehydrated and the only thing that will save her is to get her into the vet for sub-Q fluids (fluids delivered by IV under the skin). She needs an emergency vet right now. Even if you don't have an emergency ferret vet around, you should take her to an emergency animal hospital. They should be able to do this, but if there is a vet that treats ferrets for emergencies, that should be your top priority. Either way, this is serious and needs to be treated NOW!

Here is a list of links for finding a ferret vet in your area:

VETS CANADA:   
* http://www.ferretrescue.ca/start.php
* http://tinylink.com/?TlVyYKa6e0
* http://www.ferrets.org/Veterinarian_Listings.htm   (British Columbia)
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-vets.html
* http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/sask_ferrets/

VETS USA:
* http://www.quincyweb.net/quincy/vet.html
* http://ferrethealth.org/vets/
* http://www.ferret-universe.com/vets/vetlist.asp
* http://www.ferretsanctuary.com/vets.shtml
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-vets.html
* http://ferrethealth.org/vets/

VETS  UK & IRELAND:  
* http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ferreter/vetlist.htm

VET INFO/ LIST OF FERRET GROUPS/ CONTACTS IN UK, ITALY, NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, NETHERLANDS, GERMANY & DENMARK:       
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-overseas.html (scroll down page to find the one you are looking for).



Hopefully you can find one that treats emergencies after hours. Also, scan your yellow pages for an emergency vet. In the meantime, if she is dehydrated, see if she'll drink some water for you. Dribble some Ferretone on the top of the water (and try heating the water until it is lukewarm and with Ferretone) to try and entice her. Give it to her in a spoon or off your finger - that could get her to drink. If she isn't drinking on her own and she won't take it from a spoon or your finger, you should try and give her water through a syringe, gently in the side of her mouth, entice her to drink. Try some Ferretone on the syringe if that helps. Just try and get her to drink. Get her to a vet as soon as possible, please. She may not make it through this.

Even if it is not dehydration, she may have kidney failure and you should still get her into an emergency vet just to be sure because even if it isn't dehydration, you never know and in this case it is WAY better to be safe than sorry.

Please keep in touch and let me know what happens. Your little girl is in my thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews