Coughing/Gagging - Something in Throat?

Question
QUESTION: My ferret (Daisy) has just turned one year old. Her birthday was 2/25/08. She has been making a noise that is in between a cough and a hacking sound. I'm not sure. She also keeps opening her mouth and licking around it as if she has something in her mouth. She also has quit eating as much as she was. She is still drinking water though. Her last bowel movement looked normal but the one before was kind of loose, but I thought it might have been because of the Hairball remedy that I had given her. I just started giving her that every week because I just have learned that they could get hairballs. I also just started giving her marshalls Ferro-vite which she loves. Can you please tell me what you think might be wrong with her? And also what is the best food to feed her. I am presently giving her Marshalls ferret food. I have also just today put Ferret-Aide electrolyte concentrate & hydration solution in her water. Is that ok? Please help because Daisy is my baby and I don't want anything to happen to her. Thank you very much.

ANSWER: Hi Pam:

It sounds to me that your little Daisy either has some fur caught in her throat, or may be working on a hairball or partial intestinal/digestive blockage which commonly causes coughing or gagging when in the upper digestive tract.  Since she's a year old and just now being introduced to hairball remedies, no doubt she has been accumulating at *least* fur while grooming herself this past year and, something that is VERY common in young ferrets, quite possibly small pieces of toys, bits of chewed up hammock or fabric...sometimes even from when they were in the pet store as kits!

Even though you recently purchased hairball remedy and gave Daisy some of that, in my experience I've just not found the petroleum-based hairball remedies to be very effective, especially with moving existing partial blockages (either hairball OR other ingested items). A MUCH more effective way of actually removing completely clearing her digestive tract of foreign material is a product called VETASYL, which is a

Especially in springtime (but they seem to be doing it much earlier this year), ferrets are getting ready to dump their heavier winter coats for lighter summer ones.  I suspect your little girl is shedding and probably has some fur caught in her throat, and certainly has some accumulated in her tummy over the past year, and heaven only knows what may be in her little tummy from before she lived with you.

You've probably already read about the "three-day hairball treatment" that I like to use on my kids and recommend for other ferret owners.  I just find this to be so much more effective than Laxatone, Ferretlax or other hairball remedies. You need two products to give this treatment, "Vetasyl" fiber lax capsules for dogs/cats available at most online and/or walk-in pet stores

(http://www.1800petmeds.com/Vetasyl-prod10508-10508.html)

and "Uncle Jim's Duk Soup Mix"

(http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=17342+17361+17529&pcati)

AND HERE IS THE RECIPE:
In a small bowl, mix the contents of ONE "VETASYL" CAPSULE (toss the capsule itself away) mixed with TWO LEVEL TEASPOONS of UNCLE JIM'S DUK SOUP MIX and SIX OUNCES OF WARM WATER and STIR WELL WITH YOUR FINGER to be sure it's not too hot.  Offer to ferret on your lap for best results. Monitor ferret while she drinks this. Hopefully she will drink more than half of it - the more the better. You may dribble some Ferretone on it, re-warm it a bit, mix in a tiny bit of butter or peanut butter, whatever (healthy additives) necessary to get it down her that does NOT affect the thickness...it MUST remain thin like water to work with the Vetasyl.  

You will feed this mixture to the ferret for ONE TIME DAILY - FOR THREE DAYS IN A ROW.  Starting about four hours after the ferret drinks this mixture, you will want to monitor the ferret's litterbox and pay attention to anything she passes that is NOT poop. With a young ferret, you may see just about anything - chances are pretty good that you may get surprised either with something you had no idea she has been into, or something she got into before she even came to your home; so it may be something you won't even recognize. The reason you *watch* is just in case you DO recognize what comes out, you want to be SURE that the whole item comes out, especially true with balloons, ear plugs and similar items.

If she passes any foreign items in her stool on the third day, give the mixture again on the fourth day.  You will need to give the treatment for ONE DAY MORE after she stops passing anything at all other than poop just to be sure she is completely cleaned out.

After the initial treatment, you can repeat the treatment about once a month and/or when she is shedding, anytime you suspect she MAY have gotten into something she should not have, anytime she 'coughs' or chokes as she is now you can give it DAILY to keep her digestive tract nice and clear. Any time her poops aren't nice and fat - give her this mixture for at least three days; hopefully she will pass something and her poops will return to being fat again. IF THEY DO NOT, please get her to your vet for a barium xray to see if she has a blockage somewhere that is not going to move without surgical intervention. Sometimes they can get things wedged in a fold in their intestines and it can even kill off a section of intestine, causing serious problems, general muscle wasting, weight loss, low energy, poor appetite.

The electrolyte solution you have is good anytime you feel she is not eating/drinking well. It's always PRIORITY#1 that she drink a LOT of fluids if she has a fever, diarrhea or vomiting; any ferret who vomits more than once or twice, has diarrhea more than once or twice really needs to see a vet. First concern is *always* to get extra fluids into the ferret, so do keep that electrolyte solution on hand for any diarrhea, vomiting or fever.

If you wish, you can use the hairball remedy WITH the 3-day hairball remedy above, but it will make the ferret's poops runny, where the one above will not. It will just give nice big fat firm poops. Once I figured out the 3-day hairball remedy, I threw away all the goopy sweet laxatives. The less sugary things we feed our ferrets, the better. Plus, those lax's make us THINK we've done something for their hairball problem when actually they don't do much to solve the problem in my opinion. Of course, use your own judgment if you want to continue to use it or not. I think it's a waste of time tho and not good for the ferret.

You have her on Marshall's food, which is an 'okay' food for her. It's hard to introduce new foods to a ferret, but I do strongly recommend that a ferret *always* eat a mixture of at least two different foods. Ferrets "imprint" on their food and won't recognize other foods as being food!  So, as we have seen over the years of owning ferrets, every few years almost every ferret food manufacturer changes an ingredient or two here and there. Sometimes this changes the taste of the food....and suddenly we have a ferret who will NOT eat the food we've been feeding them all along!  IF we've been feeding a mixture of say Marshalls and Totally Ferret and the Marshalls changed suddenly, since the Totally Ferret is the same (and the smells/tastes blend when we mix them together in one big bag after we buy them), the ferret will go ahead and eat both the new Marshalls food and the Totally Ferret.  It just helps them to not be so picky.  Several years ago a lot of people were feeding Iams Kitten Chow (purple bag) to their ferrets and Iams made a huge change in their formula and ferret owners all over the country scrambled as their ferrets stopped eating!  People panicked because their ferrets just wouldn't eat and were starving as they refused all food offered.  So, as a precaution, just order the small bags of a couple (2 or even 3 is a good idea) different PREMIUM FERRET-SPECIFIC FOODS such as Totally Ferret, Marshalls, Natural Gold, Zupreem, 8 in 1 Advanced (the ONLY 8 in 1 food that is recommended), etc. At first Daisy will probably just pick out the Marshalls, but keep putting the other food back into the bowl and eventually she WILL eat them and it will be one less thing you will have to worry about later.

Hopefully that should take care of her problem. If she does come down with any other symptoms, she COULD be coming down with a cold, although that's not my initial impression here.  *They* (whoever *they* are!) say that ferrets don't get "colds", but they DO get the "flu"....well, whenever I get sick, my kids get sick with me, so does that mean I get the flu every time?  Guess so....or *they* just don't know *my* kids yet! LOL  IF you feel Daisy has the sniffles - she will look and sound just like little kids with the sniffles. And you treat her basically the same. Keep her warm, extra blankie or two and make sure she has fresh water couple times a day AND I like to give my kids some 1/2 apple juice/ 1/2 water mixture when they don't feel well. This gets extra fluids down them and they love it too. This is another place you can use the electrolyte solution you have - just be sure to mix according to the directions - the water is just as important as the electrolytes you mix into it.  Take the chill off it in the microwave, but just lukewarm. Just extra fluids, extra rest and an extra blankie - she can have 1cc Children's Liquid Benadryl if she sounds congested - NO ASPIRIN, NO TYLENOL, NO COLD PREPARATIONS OF ANY KIND.  You can run a vaporizer in the room, but be careful the room doesn't get any warmer than 82 degrees - ferrets overheat really easily, even when they are ill, so that's always a concern, especially with a warm mist vaporizor. You can use decongestants and a warm mist vaporizer, but keep it far enough from the cage that she doesn't get burned on the steam and the room isn't too hot.    All this is IF she continues to cough AND ALSO GETS a sore throat, watery eyes, etc. Sometimes they will even get a 'croupy' type of cough just like little kids.

Hopefully the hairball treatment will take care of the tickle in her throat - that's what I feel is really going on.  Even if you think she does have a cold, I hope you will do the 3-day hairball treatment anyway. You won't need to wait till she's over the cold either....the sooner the better for the 3-day treatment. It will NOT dehydrate her or make her uncomfortable, so there's no reason not to give it as long as she is pooping, even if her poops are skinny or scant.  (**EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE: IF SHE IS NOT PASSING POOPS, OR APPEARS FRANTICALLY *TRYING* TO POOP AND CANNOT, DO NOT GIVE THE TREATMENT; GET HER TO A VET IMMEDIATELY)

We're seeing SO MUCH early, heavy shedding causing lots of coughing this year; I think a lot of ferrets must be doing a good heavy shed.  My Gilbert just dropped his whole coat!! I 'plucked' him to remove what was left, so now he is bald and I don't have to worry about any more hairballs for him this year!  You can 'pluck' too if Daisy's fur seems to be loose, but it must be pretty loose (you will notice little chunks of undercoat in her bedding when it's loose enough).  Very gently grasp fur between thumb and forefinger and pull against the way it grows. Since they are itchy when shedding, they usually appreciate this - it she doesn't don't do it, of course. Took me about 10 minutes to gently remove what was left of Gilbert's coat. We live in the southwestern U.S. desert and are having a very early and very warm spring this year, so I'm sure that is affecting the early and very heavy shedding here at least.

Best of luck - hope that little girl starts feeling better. I think she will be just fine once she gets a few good doses of the Vetasyl treatment.  Please don't hesitate to write again if I can be of any further help.  Give that little Daisy girl a hug from me.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear Jacquie
I just wanted to write and say thank you very much for your help. I am treating Daisy just as you said. I think you are absolutely right. I am going tomorrow to pick up her little play mate and my new baby and I plan on treating him just as you said too. Also I am picking up the other foods to mix also. Thanks for the great advice!

Hugs from me and little Daisy
Pam

Answer
Hi Pam:

You're very welcome. I'm always happy when a ferret owner is willing to give the Vetasyl treatment a try. It really does give amazing results and eliminates the need for the messy, sweet, goopy hairball lax's that we all used for so many years that basically did nothing except contribute to our kids' insulinoma problems because of the molasses and sugars in it.

Just a few recommendations if I could with the new baby?  A vet exam to rule out ear mites (VERY common in pet store ferrets) and intestinal parasites such as giarrdia and coccidia, which are very very contagious and soo very hard to get rid of once you bring them into your home. KEEP THE TWO FERRETS SEPARATED UNTIL YOU GET A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH FROM YOUR VET on the second ferret.  It will just cut your vet bills in half IF he has ear mites or intestinal parasites, or even worse, ECE or other contagious ferret-specific diseases these little ones seem to be famous for bringing from pet stores. Even tho he LOOKS healthy, it's just precautionary.

IF YOU DO PUT THEM TOGETHER RIGHT AWAY, expect *some* diarrhea from both of them anyway - the excitement of a new home and a new buddy is enough to give them diarrhea, it may even become 'greenish' (but not neon green) for a couple days. Some extra fluids in the form of some Uncle Jim's Duk Soup is an excellent way to help the kids bond and feel better too. Give extra fluids (soup) to them at least 3 or 4 times a day while they have diarrhea.

JUST IN CASE the diarrhea becomes explosive, is bright green and smells really foul, your new kit *MAY* have come complete with a disease called ECE. (This is why it's best to keep them separated until you get a clean bill of health if at all possible).  If you don't, then they will both need to be treated (double vet bill=double cost, double worry). You can read more about ECE  here IF you need to:  http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/med/green.html

FLUIDS are the most important thing when treating ANY diarrhea; you can also give them Imodium - dissolve one Imodium tablet in 5cc water, give .5cc (that's one-half cc) every 4 hours as needed.  CHECK FOR DEHYDRATION by scruffing (pinching up the skin on the back side of their neck like a mother ferret would do), then letting go of the skin - does it snap right back down flat?  If it remains tented up or slowly goes back down, the ferret is dehydrated and will need more fluids than you can keep up with orally. The ferret needs fluids sub-cutaneously (under the skin) at the vets office.  Often just one trip to the vet can sometimes get the dehydration under control, then you can keep checking for dehydration several times a day while keeping fluids and diarrhea under control. Other times, if the diarrhea is persistent, the ferret must return several times a day for fluids, but you can still keep the ferret at home where you can give one-on-one care (if you're an at-home mom).

Diarrhea and dehydration are tricky beasts in ferrets, but with much effort this is one battle that CAN be won. The secret is to NOT GIVE UP and to stay on top of it - once it's out of control and the kidneys start shutting down, the ferret loses ground quickly, so you must recognize the symptoms of dehydration EARLY and get treatment early and often.  Let's HOPE you don't have to deal with it, but IF you do, at least you know what you will need to do.  Being well-read on what *can* happen and being PREPARED are the best gifts you can give your ferrets.

Best of luck - hope your new little one brings much joy & things go well!  Don't hesitate to write again if I can be of help in any way!

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers