ferret pain

Question
I have a male ferret that was attacked by a dog and i took him to our vet and he has stitches and is on a antibiotic. they gave him a pain relief in the hospital. I was wondering if there is so pain relief I can buy over the counter for him. I forgot to ask the vet but I think he is still hurting. I took him to hte vet yesterday for a check up and she said everything was fine but went I take him out of his cage to give him the antibiotic he shakes as if he might be in pain. He never acted like this before and I was wondering if he was hurting. When he saw the vet he did the same thing but she said he was scared. When I give him the medicine and than hold him close he will stop sortly and fall asleep. Is it pain or and I a worry wart?

Answer
Hi April,

No, you are not a worry wart just a good ferret owner. As a general rule ferrets are pretty stoic when it comes to pain but I am a better safe than sorry kind of gal. I would rather have something to give them for pain just in case they hurt -- wouldn't you hate to be in the same situation where you hurt and could not tell anyone? I know lots of vets and some are more "conservative" about pain relief than others, I'd ask your vet straight out to give you something for him to take just in case he hurts -- ask for Metacam, its an analgesic that will not knock them out but controls pain adequately. There is no OTC medications you can give them safely so it must come from a veterinarian. If your vet continues to balk at giving pain relief in the future, I would consider having a back up vet to go to that will be more open to your concerns.

As for the shaking when he wakes up, that's normal for any ferret. When they sleep thier body temperature goes down so when they wake up they shake to raise their body temp. back up.

As a last note, if you ferret's wounds were deep (like if he had internal and external skin sutures) then pain control beyond a couple of days would be good but if the wounds were more minor (with only a few sutures on the top layer of skin) then pain control the day of and the day after surgery would probably be adequate.

Remember that although your vet knows about the medical side of ferrets, they do not know your pet as well as YOU do so make sure any vet you use takes your concerns about your pet very, very seriously!

If you have any other questions, you can contact me at amortimer@aol.com.

Thanks,

Adrienne Mortimer