Ferret Congestion?

Question
QUESTION: Hi, you've heard from me before about my ferret chewing, but now I have another concern.

I recently took my ferret to the vet because she was gagging randomly. I couldn't figure out why she was doing it at all and was afraid she could be getting sick. The doctor said that she didn't seem sick. She eats, drinks, exercises and uses the restroom properly.

As this has been progressing, I've started to notice more of when her gagging occurs at certain times. Mostly when she's been sleeping/resting for long periods of time. I've started to think she is possibly suffering from congestion, like I am, as her symptoms seem the worse in the mornings.

I'm not sure what I can buy to give to her or to put in my room to prevent her or both of us from having horrible morning congestion. People tell me to get myself some allergy meds or whatever but I know my ferret can't take them.

I used to think it was possibly my fan blowing in my room that could be bothering my ferret, and so at night I put a throw over the top of the cage to block the front so the wind won't blow so much in her cage, but it hasn't helped. I'm not sure if she is having allergies to something in my house other than what I am, as we both have congestion in the mornings and are fine once we are active. When I get her out and let her play, she seems more than fine after a while and I will not hear any coughs/gags until she's gone back to sleep for a while.

I don't think anything in her cage could be the cause for our problem. She only has yesterday's news litter in her box and an old shirt for bedding and her bed and food (Marshall's and 8 in 1).

I dunno if you've heard of this kind of problem before or know any remedies for my little girl, but I hope you might.

ANSWER: Hi Holly!

Yes, I remember you!!  I'm sorry to hear that you and your little girl are both feeling congested.  Does anyone in your home smoke?  It's very common for cigarette or cigar smoke to make ferrets cough...and people too.  Also, if you have any areas of dampness where mold or mildew may form, you might want to be sure they are cleaned with a Clorox and water solution to kill bacteria....but be sure your ferret is no where around when you work with Clorox and you should wear gloves and a mask for your own safety, as it can damage lungs and skin, but is effective on mold and mildew.

The *usual* reason for ferrets to cough or gag is that they have hairballs. A ferret can have a small hairball for a long time. Over time it will keep growing until it is large enough to block the intestines - then you have an emergency.  Sooo, I like to eliminate that possibility as quickly as possible and on a regular basis to ensure a ferret's good health.

We used to recommend giving cat or ferret laxative (a gel in a  tube) weekly to help ferrets pass the hair they collect in their throat and stomach when they groom themselves. However, this isn't always effective. What I've been using that IS effective is a product called "Vetasyl" - it is a cat laxative, but it is a "bulk" product instead of a greasy one.  The ferret eats it, it swells in their tummy and moves thru their system taking any accumulated fur with it and out the other end.

Here's how I recommend using it:  Make a bowl of "soup" for your ferret as you would if she were sick. Some people have their own "duck soup" recipes (or you can find a bunch on the'net) OR you can use Uncle Jim's Duk Soup Mix (which I prefer), which is a dry powder that you add water to. It has healthy 'gut' enzymes in it to help your ferret's digestion get back on track.  Mix about 6 oz of this and warm in the microwave. Make sure it is thin, about the consistency of thin gravy (like you put on your mashed potatoes).   When it is just the right, nice warm temperature and thin consistency, open ONE CAPSULE of Vetasyl, throw the capsule away and stir the contents into the soup as much as you possibly can and immediately feed to your ferret. You may have to offer it on your finger to get her started, but almost all ferrets LOVE Uncle Jim's (made by Marshalls Ferret Products).  Encourage the ferret to eat the whole bowl if possible.  As long as that bowl had plenty of liquid in it, the Vetasyl will bulk up in your ferret's tummy and move thru the digestive system, effectively 'sweeping' all loose fur thru the digestive tract and out thru the poops.  About 4 to 6 hours later you will see nice big, full poops and very possibly they will have hardened places in them that are the hairballs it moved out.  

Do this for three days in a row and it really cleans the ferret out good.  

***IMPORTANT: **If your ferret does not want to eat or drink, or is not pooping, DO NOT DO THIS PROCEDURE, as the ferret may already have a blockage and this could rupture the ferret's intestines and kill the ferret.  This is a 'preventative' thing to do about once a month for your ferret to keep it from getting hairballs. You don't need to use the sugary 'ferret-lax' or cat laxatives as long as you do this procedure regularly.

I really believe if you do this three days in a row for your little girl, it will *almost always* eliminate the possibility that your ferret has an intestinal blockage, which is the most urgent of emergencies with ferrets.  If you don't see a difference after doing this three days - if your ferret continues to cough - it should have an examination from a vet to be sure there is no lung problem.

I hope you are living in a smoke free environment. It's often also a good idea to use a nice clean vacuum cleaner bag and give the area a good vacuuming to cut down on 'dust bunnies' that make ferrets cough sometimes.  Also, if you have a vaporizer (you put water in it and steam comes out), you might try filling that and letting it run at night to put some moisture in the air (unless you already live in a damp area). Sometimes just dry air can make us cough.   If both the ferret AND you have problems coughing, you really should check with your family doctor too - maybe he will find an infection or something that you have passed to your ferret. The important thing is to keep working on it until you find an answer so that both of you are breathing healthier and not being congested.

Please let me know if you do the Vetasyl treatments and if she passes something in her stools, okay?  I did this with one of my ferrets who was coughing and he passed a long, hard furball the size of my little finger!! And I had been giving him ferretlax regularly and THOUGHT he should have been fine. His poops were a bit skinny, tho, so I thought I'd try the Vetasyl...and boy, was I surprised!!  Using that *probably* saved his life - and I hope that it will help other ferrets too. Hopefully owners can feed the Vetasyl on a regular basis and prevent these hairballs from forming in the first place!

Best of luck - hope we can find out what's going on here!

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers


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

QUESTION: So, Minxy's been to the vet two days in a row since you sent this. The day you sent it, she went in for her distemper shot, deworm and was given Laxatone at the office. I asked them about the Vetasyl and they said it would be okay but I shouldn't probably give it to her until she is a bit older as she's still only about 2-3 mo. old. I dunno, but they gave me Laxatone that she hates and I honestly forgot how often to give it to her. :(

The next day she had really awful poops and was so lethargic and breathing kinda shallow. I was so worried I took her back to the doctor with the same ol' complaints. I also took 'em a sample of her poop, which they said was fine. They said it was all goopey cause of all the Laxatone she had.

Anyways they checked her belly and nose and ears and gums and all that stuff to see if anything seemed odd. Of course, when she was there she was a bit more awake and curious so her "sick" nature wasn't shining like it does at home. She also wasn't gagging/coughing at all, so she couldn't hear it for herself. She checked the lungs and said they sounded fine and that her heart was beating normally.

She then started biting/scratching/licking herself a lot and I pointed it out to the doctor. She gave her a good look over for fleas/mites and neither of us could find any (she itches randomly a lot as if something is biting her but I've never seen anything) - well, she then started to think maybe my ferret has allergies of some kind.

Either way, she insisted I let her take a X-ray of her to see her heart, stomach and lungs. She brought it back in and said she had a bit of trouble seeing the heart through the lung, and that Minxy could be developing pneumonia or something that would be making the lungs a little more opaque in the x-ray. So she gave me an anti-biotic for it and said that if she is developing it that it should knock it out, and if she keeps coughing or if she gets worse, then she wants to do blood work on her.

She said she thought Minxy was too young to be having heart failure and she didn't think it was worms or anything like that. She said that if she still gags and itches she's going to give me some Benadryl to give to her to see if it stops. I'm supposed to call her mid-week next week and give her an update on Minxy.

So far, Minxy is seeming a bit better. She still is gagging but it does seem to be less often. She loves the medicine, which is great because I hate tryin' to give her stuff she doesn't like to eat/drink. It's odd she likes fruit flavors when you can't feed them fruits or sweet things. This stuff is orange flavored, and she liked the deworm stuff that was banana.

I'm also going to try and get an air filter once I can get the extra money (they are expensive!) and place it near her cage to lower the amount of smoke both of us have to inhale during these hot summer months.

Are there any nutrients or anything you might recommend I give my ferret other than her typical food and this Laxatone junk? I've heard a lot about ferrets and vitamins and supplements, but am not sure what would be good to give her at her age.

Also, her water - I currently give her spring water, since it has some minerals still in it. Is that safe or should I go to distilled or some other kind?

Thanks!

Holly n' Minxy Ramsey

Answer
Hi Holly & Minxy:

So sorry to hear these symptoms continue. I still believe it is a result of the smoky atmosphere. I knew one other ferret that I got to see first hand that lived in a very smoky atmosphere and that ferret's cough got worse and worse thru her life and was really sad to see her deteriorate from something that is so easily solved.

Have you ever asked your mom to smoke outside? I just wonder what her reaction would be. Surely she knows that she is endangering YOUR life also; not just your ferrets. That makes me incredibly sad.

The Laxatone isn't horrible - many folks use it. It is basically vaseline with sugars and malt flavorings in it - when ferrets will eat just plain old vaseline just as quickly (even tho it seems gross to us).  If you decide to use the Laxatone OR the petroleum jelly (Vaseline), give about 1/2 tsp once a week when she is not shedding - give it DAILY as soon as you notice that she is shedding - which is twice a year. When she is finished shedding, I strongly recommend the Vetasyl and some "soup", especially post shedding.

Another thing that ferrets LOVE is Ferretone or Furotone, depending on the brand name available at your pet store. This is a vitamin oil that ferrets love once they get a good taste of it. To introduce her the first time, put some on your finger and gently put it inside her lip or in her mouth...or let her lick it from your (washed) hand if she will.  Don't give more than about 1/2 tsp a day.  If you have something you can put half of it in and refrigerate it, pour half the Ferretone out of the bottle (keep well covered and refrigerated), then fill the bottle back up with EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL (which is also healthy for cooking, so it's a good thing to have in your house if you don't already :-). Shake it, mixing the Ferretone and the olive oil. The reason for this is that Ferretone (or Furotone) has Vitamin A, which is not water soluble and can build up in your ferrets body (when there is too much of water soluble vitamins, like vitamin B, your ferret will just pee out the extra - but not so with Vitamin A, so you have to be careful not to overdose her).  Once you have "cut" the Ferretone with olive oil, you can give her twice as much :-), which she will LOVE you for and it's also good for her. When she gets a bit of a cough, you can offer her a sip of ferretone from your hand and it will coat her throat and hopefully help her throat.

If she does have further bad coughing episodes, be sure to let your vet follow up with more blood work and/or another xray..hopefully with the lung not in the way so she can see the heart well.  It does sound like your vet has a handle on this, so you definitely need to follow her instructions.

The spring water is excellent for your ferret...or any bottled drinking water or reverse osmosis treated water.Tap water that his hard has too many minerals and can cause kidney problems; distilled water has no minerals and is not good for her, but bottled spring water is EXCELLENT or any bottled water intended for drinking (not distilled)

I still believe in the Vetasyl instead of Laxatone - maybe you could give her 1/2 a capsule of vetasyl instead of the complete contents of a capsule. Just be sure you give her lots of "soupy" stuff with it so there is plenty of water to help the fiber expand and clean the intestinal tract. You might want to as least get some Uncle Jim's Duk Soup and get her started so she will accept it as a treat; then every time you give her the vetasyl in her soup, she will thank you for the treat :-)

I will be here for you and Minxy also - just holler and I will help in any way I can. I still think that removing the smoke from the atmosphere would be so very much healthier for both you and Minxy. You might want to consider  taking a warm, damp washcloth and wiping her mouth, nose and face when she begins to cough. I wipe my "kids" faces and it's a great bonding experience that also removes any dust bunnies she might have collected to make her sneeze and/or cough.

Please stay in touch, Holly.  I will help any way I can - it sounds like your vet is a good one, so be sure to follow her recommendations first and foremost, k?

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers