Ferret with pneumonia

Question
I don't know if you remember me or not but i'm the person who had the ferret (Hamilton) show up at my house and has asked you tons of questions. Well i have another. Wednesday (jun18th) i was told by my current vet that Hamilton has pneumonia. I would like to tell you what has happened with Hamilton and how i found out that Hamilton has pneumonia.

Around the middle of last week i started seeing that Hamilton's stools were becoming smaller and smaller. They also started looking black and tarry colored and he had almost complete lost of appetite. I had remembered reading that black tarry stools could be a result of gastric uclers and/or blockages. So i looked on the internet trying to find a ferret knowledgeable vet, because most of the vets in my area don't vet ferrets. I found that 2 different ferret rescues recommended one particular vet so i called friday morning (jun 13th) and was able to get an appointment later that day. I had to drive 148 miles both ways to this particular vet but i wanted to go to a vet who would know what their doing when it comes to ferrets. I had brought a stool sample just in case but Hamilton happen to go in his carrier so the vet used a "fresher" sample. Though this time his stool was more brown with a little hint of green on some of it. The vet did a fecal test and examined Hamilton. She told me that Hamilton didn't have any blood in his stool, but would go ahead and send some medicine home to treat what she said seemed like maybe an ucler but really wasn't sure. I gave Hamilton the medicine that night and about 4 hours later he appeared to be doing better. But the next day, saturday (jun 14th) Hamilton was doing worst than he had been the day before so i thought that maybe he just needed to take his medicine. Well later that night Hamilton was doing even worst. Hamilton had lost all of his appetite, wouldn't hardly drink any water, having green stools that were less than 1/2 inch, wouldn't move around much, and fast and rapid breathing.

I did the emergency call that night to my current vet because i was afraid that he may die and i didn't know of any emergency vets who treated ferrets. Plus my current vet always returns emergency calls within 1 hour. Now my current vet is the vet i mentioned in my past questions about not willing to neuter without descenting and i was also told by her receptionist that she (the vet) only did the basic vet care with ferrets. Which when my current vet returned my called i found out that her receptionist had lied and the my vet would have neutered Hamilton without descenting plus my vet does all types of vetting on ferrets and in fact has 2 ferret current living one of her back rooms of her vet office. The reason i mention this is because i'm feeling bad and somewhat responsible for Hamilton's current illness because i feel had i taken him to my current vet his infection wouldn't have progressed to pneumonia.  Well my current told what to do to help Hamilton get through the night (which he did) because she couldn't get to me until the next day. She told me to call her in the morning to tell her how Hamilton had done through the night and if he had not improved greatly i would have to bring him in. She said some jump right back and don't have to be brought in but some also don't improve.

Well Hamilton didn't improve so i brought him in to be examined. My current vet said that it wasn't good that Hamilton was breathing so fast and rapid. She said she could hear that he was congested so she did fluids and gave him an antibiotic shot, fecal test, and sent him home with amoxicillin to run out his internal infection. Hamilton started having green colored diarrhea that morning so she did a fecal test but could only find fat in it. Which had come from the ferretone i had to put on his food and water to get him to eat and drink. I told her that i had been to another vet and what the other vet had said and the medicine she gave. My current vet said she couldn't understand why that vet gave me the medicine she did and how she didn't hear that he was congested as bad as he was.

I also got to talking to her about how i found Hamilton and how i didn't know of any breeders in my area. She told that Hamilton had to come from a breeder because none of the petstores she knew of would sell unaltered ferrets. She also told me that there was infact a ferret breeder in my town. She told me that she wouldn't put it passed him to dump any of his ferret when he was done with them and that he doesn't take good care of his ferrets at all. Which could have been one of the reasons that Hamilton was so skinny and act as if he was starving when i found him. Plus Hamilton will bite and claw his pet carrier and start squeaking while in a vehicle as if he thinks i'm taking him somewhere to dump and leave him. The only way he will come down is when he can see me and i talk and pet him. And if someone else approaches him while he's in his carrier besides me and my family Hamilton will stand completely still and try to bite anyone who reaches into his cage except for me. I think he's afraid that their going to take him away from me and he's not going without a fight. He bit my current vet 2 times when she reached into his carrier when trying to examine him, so i had to get him out of his carrier and  talk and hold him while she examined him because he would try to bite her and come running to me.

After she send us home and i started giving Hamilton his medicine he started to improve somewhat but still wouldn't drink enough water on his own and wouldn't eat at all. So i started feeding him 1 teaspoon of yogurt 2-3 times a day with gerber baby food with ferretone mixed in from a syringe because he couldn't eat it on his own. I smashed his dry food into dust and mixed water with it into a mush, but he still couldn't eat it on his own so i made it really watery with flakes of his dry food in it and syringe fed him. He improved a little everyday and his stools were becoming their normal color but still a little too soft. But he still wasn't eating his dry food on his own, so my vet had my bring him in on wednesday (jun 18th) to have xrays done because she thought he could also have a foreign body. Well she found on the xrays that Hamilton didn't have a foreign body, but had pneumonia instead. She said that when she listened to him that she coundn't hear it but said often pneumonia is hard to hear and doesn't show up until xrays are done. She sent Hamilton home that day with baytril and she said that it is going to take him along time (weeks) to get over it. She said that Hamilton won't be able to eat his dry food until at least this weekend and that his fast and rapid breathing are normal for a ferret with pneumonia and would be back to normal in a few days. Now Hamilton has been improving more and more everyday and has been able to eat a little bit of the baby food and yogurt mixed together on his own. But i still syringe feed it to him 3-4 times a day because he acts like it hard for him to do it on his own. Each time i feed it to him and i feed him 5-10 syringes of the mixture.

Now that i've givin you background/update of his condition here's my question. In your experience do vets often give more than just baytril for pneumonia and do they often keep the ferret for a few days? I plan on calling a few other vets in the morning to ask that same question but figured that i would go ahead and ask it here too. Also, Hamilton has been improving and acting a little better but earlier today he was kind of coughing and weasy, but my vet acts as if that is just a result of the pneumonia. In your opinion is that true? Also it there anything else that you would recommend that i could do to help Hamilton in any way? I doing all that i can and making sure that he doesn't get to cold and has enought fluids and food in him as the vet said. I know that my question/post is VERY long but i wanted to include everything that i could to help you in deciding what advice you can give me. I know that you were hoping for a good update and so was i but i hope and pray that Hamilton makes it through this.

Thanks,
Felicie

Answer
Hi Felicia,

I am so sorry that I didn't answer sooner. I have been out of town for the past few days and I was away from my computer.

Anyway, I'm so sorry to hear that Hamilton is running into problems again! I really hope I can be of help.

Baytril can be prescribed for respiratory infections. Amoxicillin is given in many cases because it is an antibiotic and works to fight infection. So, I'm not surprised that it was prescribed, although that is strange that a vet couldn't hear that Hamilton's lungs were filled with fluid.

I don't *really* think that Hamilton should have been kept for a few days. If he was in really bad condition, then he might have been kept overnight, but if not, they would probably just send him home. It will take him a few days to respond to his medication. Pneumonia hits ferrets like it hits humans. When we get sick, medicine works, but not usually right away. If you don't see improvement, I certainly recommend taking Hamilton back to the vet and telling them that he is not improving and needs to be seen right away. Also, coughing and wheezing are a normal part of pneumonia. Like I said, though, if he doesn't improve, you really should take him back to the vet!!!

Another thing that I wanted to add: you shouldn't really be giving Hamilton anything with yogurt in it. Not only does it have sugar, but it has dairy product in it, which gives ferrets terrible diarrhea and can lead to irritable bowel syndrome down the road. Neither of these things are good at all. So, you shouldn't be giving him anything with lactose in it. You should look in to getting Hill's A/D canned cat food. You can mix this up with some water and see if the eats it. If he won't eat it on his own, you can mush the food up and make a sort of soup or gravy out of it. If you wanted to, you could always try Uncle Jim's Duck Soup. This is a powder mix that you mix in with water and it makes a sort of gravy. If you can't get the A/D food into a syringe, duck soup is an okay alternative. I would seriously consider getting the A/D food. It will help Hamilton heal and it will replace the lost nutrients.

Don't ever feel bad about asking me questions! I'm here to help and I love it that you updated me on Hamilton's status. Feel free to continue doing that.

I hope this information helped. If there is anything else I can do, please don't hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews



***********FOLLOW-UP************

Hi Felicia,

I just wanted to check in on you and Hamilton and see how everybody was doing. I hope everything is going well and that Hamilton is happy and well today! Have a happy holiday!

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews