sick albino ferret

Question
about 2 yr. old nuetered male, poop varies between dark mustard and green. Cant stop scratching, sometimes sick stomach. 2 weeks+ ago my son took him to vet who gave us clindamycin 20ml... to give him 2xs a day... 4 m ea. time, and had us switch to Mazuri brand ferret pellets. He is not better... we just read about how "catching a ferret off guard yawning can have devastating effects", and I had to force that liquid down him. my spaded female ferret has been fine throughout all of this.... but cloud... the albino.... is miserable. His hairless patches are wet and although I have been bathing him to help cool the itch--(plain water)-- he is still miserable.  what can I do ? I am not usually helpless with critters....got a degree from E.A.T.M., (exotic animals training and management---a 3 yr program @ moorpark college--where I specialized in big cats.) E>A>T>M> works with animal actors, wildlife way station, and others. But I am at a loss here.

Answer
Hi again Lisa:

When ferrets have a loss of fur, such as is common with adrenal disease, their little bodies *feel* very warm; and rightfully so!  A ferret's NORMAL BODY TEMPERATURE is about 103 degrees.  A sick ferret or a ferret who has loss of fur needs MORE soft blankies to snuggle down in. My kids have one of those 'body size' down comforters and I fold it over a few times, put it in the cage and they LOVE it to snuggle down into.  This would be perfect for a ferret who has fur loss.

I can only imagine how the poor thing has been shivering if he's having you 'cool the ferret down'.  That vet sounds incredibly dangerous to me.  This is why I keep the lists of 'ferret vets'.  A recently-graduated vet once told me that in the YEARS of instruction they had, only SIX HOURS TOTAL were spent learning specifically about ALL "exotics" - snakes, birds, ferrets, etc all in that six hours!  So, I can understand a bit of ignorance on the part of the vet - but that was a HUGE faux pas!!  Your letting him know may give him the backbone to tell the next patient that he doesn't know about ferrets OR to refer them to someone who does!

I'll be anxious to hear what you find out; if your ferret does have adrenal disease; what the clindamycin is for, etc.  Just remember that yours is the ONLY voice your ferret has.

Best of luck - I have your baby in my thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers


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Hi Lisa:

I'm so sorry to hear your ferret is feeling so ill.  I'm a little confused about your vet's response and I need a little more information before I can be of much help:

* How long has your ferret's poops been "not right"?

* How long has the ferret had bald patches?  And when he started losing fur, where did it start?  Where are the bald patches now?

Your ferret is the right age to be adrenal, and of course the fur loss *may* indicate adrenal, depending on where it is and where it started. If it started anywhere around the base of the tail or the rear of the ferret, it's probably caused by adrenal - I've even heard of them losing fur from between their shoulder blades first.

Having you switch to Mazuri really has be baffled. I don't know one ferret owner whose ferret will eat Mazuri - yes, it has all the right ingredients, but most ferrets just hate the taste and will pick it out of a mix and eat everything else in the bowl (multiple kinds of food) and leave the Mazuri - so that's a pretty bad review.  If I took my healthy ferret off his food today and started feeding him Mazuri, even if I made mush out of it and "force fed" it, he would be vomiting it back up!

What food were you feeding the ferret BEFORE he told you to feed it Mazuri?

What did the vet say he was putting the ferret on clindomycin for?    Most medications I ask the vet to give me the tablets and I crush a small piece of the tablet (however much is required for the proper dosage), squish it between two spoons and put Ferretone in the powder, then draw the medication and Ferretone up into a syringe.  Since you have it and it's liquid, give this a try:  First, ALWAYS keep the ferret upright when giving medications; don't lay him on your lap, which is what most people automatically do - he could aspirate it; so keep him upright.  Place the syringe behind his canines (the longest teeth) and put it in his mouth (do two SMALLER doses if it's a lot of liquid), then have Ferretone right next to you so you can immediately get the Ferretone under his nose and offer it from the front, where he can taste it. My kids known the Ferretone is coming next, so they will swallow their meds quickly so they can get to the good stuff!

For the itching - gently apply some pure petroleum jelly (Vaseline). This is the main ingredient of ferretlax and won't hurt at all. I give it to my kids instead of cat laxative/ferretlax for hairballs because I don't like like them having all the sugary stuff that's added in the commercially prepared laxatives.  If she has much of it, it will just help any hairballs she might have move through.  It should help keep her comfortable tho.

***PRIORITY ONE - RIGHT NOW:  Let's check him for dehydration:  Scruff him good and tight on the back of his neck, then let go.  Did his skin stay "tented" up, did it go down slowly or not all the way, or did it snap right back down to 'normal'?   If the answer is anything other than "it snapped right back to normal", you ferret needs to have WARM Sub-Q fluids.  I wonder if your vet checked that.  At any rate, you can check him for it now and anytime you wonder if a sick ferret is dehydrated, this is the test to let you know for sure.  Once a ferret tests as "dehydrated", you can't "force feed" (geeze I hate that terminology - it's NOT a good idea!) enough fluids into them to reverse it. A dehydrated ferret is a ferret that is dying, so it IS an emergency to get WARM sub-cutaneous fluids. Hopefully, if he tests as dehydrated you have an emergency vet clinic that is open after hours where you can get fluids for him. They can usually put fluids in at least 3 ot 4 places on his shoulders and back. Then test him again tomorrow morning - if he's still dehydrated, take him back for more fluids. He will need fluids at least every 12 hours until he's holding his own. Be sure they give WARM fluids - a sick ferret who gets chilled is really difficult to warm back up - so that's reeeally important.

I have some concerns about your vet. Does it say "exotics specialist" in the phone book?  Some vets who are great with cats and dogs just don't know about ferrets.  Here are some lists that ferret owners have put together - all vets who specialize in exotics and they have taken their ferrets to (since you didn't say where you are, I will list all of them):

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

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)

Be sure to check all the lists that pertain to where you live, as some overlap, but some have listings that aren't on the other ones.

I hope you'll write back very soon and let me know the answers to the questions above so that I can help you more.  I'm not impressed with your vet (so far anyway) and I'm concerned for the well-being of your ferret.  I would like to see you offering him some chicken (meat only) or turkey (meat only) baby food instead of Mazuri. You can warm it and even add a little water to make thick 'soup' for him. Dip your finger in it, then offer it to him from your finger; if you need to, pull his lip up on the side of his mouth and wipe a little inside there so he gets a taste of it. You may even have to do this a few times. Since ferrets "imprint" on their food, they are always leery of new things, but this is excellent for him to be eating right now.  If it's too late tonight to get out to get baby food and he has been eating the Mazuri, grind up some Mazuri in your blender, add warm water and offer this 'mush' to him from your finger. If at all possible, though, nix the Mazuri and your ferret will thank you. The most important thing right now is that we get *something* down him - even if it has to be whatever he *used* to eat, grind in blender, add warm water to make mush and feed from your finger - he MUST get some nourishment down - that's vital and not negotiable.

I will keep checking my email until I hear back from you - let's get that poor little guy feeling better and on the road to well again!

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers