Marshall

Question
Marshall is my 8 year old daughters 6 year old ferret.  The last few days he has not been himself.  He is not playing, sleeps more, and seems to walk okey but when it comes to turns he lays is back end on the floor and lays on his right side to turn.  His belly also seems a little harder than usually.  All in all he does not seem happy.. could he be depressed or is their an underlaying sickness that I should prepare my daughter for.  She got him when he was a baby and has been very close to him since.....

Answer
Hi, thanks for your question...It's hard to say what it could be exactly, there are a couple things to consider. A ferret all of a sudden not acting like himself is a bad sign. If his belly is harder than usual it could be a blockage, either partial or full. Are his poops normal, is he eating/drinking? If not, than it's definitely something to be worried about, and you need to take him to your vet ASAP. (A full blockage can usually only be helped by surgery, however a partial blockage can be fixed by using a ferret laxative...ask your vet)

I doubt it's depression, ferrets aren't usually depressed for no reason...it takes a major change happening to them, like loss of a ferret friend, loss of their owner/changing owners, changing homes, etc.

If you had just noticed him sleeping more and more over time and being less energetic, I would contribute that to old age mostly, but again, if he is doing this suddenly I think something is wrong. So please, at least take him to a good exotics vet for a check up and go from there (a plain check up should not be expensive). If you won't or are unable to pay for treatment to whatever is may be, at least have a vet tell you what it is, so you know if he is in pain or not. You might be worried about nothing, or it could really be something bad and it would be most humane to put him to sleep (if this is the case, make sure they give him a butt shot that's an overdose of a sleeping drug, and not the heart-stick method, which is very painful and cruel). I'm only suggesting euthanasia in worst case scenario because it seems like you are not considering getting him treatment, and a 6 year old ferret is actually an old ferret. Their life expectancy is now only about 6-8.

So please get him to a vet first SOON, and at least make him comfortable if what's wrong with him turns out to be serious. Take him to the vet first and be prepared based on the outcome to comfort your daughter.

A good website for her is www.petloss.com they have a candlelit service every week for pets that have died that week, and a place were you can post his picture. I hope you remain optimistic and make sure you know what's wrong with him first, but I just want you to be prepared for the worst.

Good luck, sorry I can't really answer your question but I hope I've helped you in some way.

~sheila