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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 1:49:36 GMT -5
This is my first post on this forum. I wish my first post could be something cheerful instead, but I'm coming here seeking advice. I have posted my story on another forum today too.
I have two young spayed female ferrets - Mocha (~6 months old) and Vanilla (~4 months old). They have always been the picture of health until a few days ago, when Mocha began to rapidly decline. We've noticed for a week or so she has been coughing, choking on kibble, but only every so often. Then two days ago she began sleeping more than usual, and last night she collapsed. Mocha would not eat - even Ferretone and duck soup, her "special treats" - and did not want to get up and explore. The next morning she was active, although less coordinated than usual, but she soon collapsed again. This time while I was holding her and syringe feeding her she had a seizure followed by periodic smaller convulsions. In between the convulsions she seemed barely conscious, and nothing revived her including food, water, warmth and rubbing honey on her gums. She urinated while we were holding her at this point, and it came out a dark, clear green color. After hours of lethargy, she became active again, pacing her cage in circles with her back arched oddly. Since she has been alternating between activity and sleeping, and at one point she coughed, dry heaved and foamed at the mouth.
The most concerning part for me is that while she is up and walking now, she keeps pacing her cage absently with an unnatural gait, and if I place her on the floor, she doesn't seem to respond to any stimulus. Mentally she's not "all there" anymore, I'm not sure if it's just exhaustion and soreness or something much worse.
We will be seeing the vet on Monday (the emergency vet does not treat exotics in our small town, the next closest emergency vet is ~5 hours away, and I do not have the emergency contact of my vet.) My vet has treated ferrets before but I don't know how many cases of illness she has treated, so I want to bring as much information with me as possible on Monday. While I acknowledge that advice on a forum is not equal to veterinary advice and treatment, I think it never hurts to get as much help and advice as possible in these situations. In fact my male husky's life was saved by a blurb of advice I stumbled into on a forum which helped us diagnose and treat his rare condition - one the vet (6 different vets had treated him, in fact) didn't even know existed. The other forum mentioned juvenile lymphoma, which unfortunately sounds a lot like what I've seen in Mocha this weekend. I'm most worried that her green pee looks just like the urine Sherry posted in the lymphoma section of the forum. Are there other, less serious conditions that may cause these symptoms? If anyone could give their input, I would really appreciate it. My biggest concern of course is figuring out whether this is lymphoma or something treatable, because I know if she pulls through until Monday we will be facing a big decision. Thank you in advance for your help.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 2:03:59 GMT -5
If she seized, she most likely did so because of insulinoma. There are many members here are struggling with that disease, and I myself did. What I would recommend is syringe feed her some meat soup (or blended meat, you can even mix meat with raw egg, or pure meat baby food -but I'd suggest to avoid using kibble, which may make it worse). Do you have a BG meter around - if you can, check her BG, if it's low (70 and lower) it's a sign of insulinoma. Feed her every 3 hours or so to keep her stable and take her ASAP to the vet to get proper treatment. She needs medication as soon as possible. If you can get your hand on Oxbow Carnivore Care, I would use that to make the soupie to feed her. To get her out of a seizure, rub some Karo syrup on her gums, or honey. Use ONLY in the case of a seizure. Please keep us updated!
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Post by bitbyter on Apr 26, 2015 8:40:57 GMT -5
@absinthefairy Just and FYI, while I agree that it does sound like insulinoma you cannot check a ferrets BG with a home meter until you have calibrated it to a vets. All meters are different and you have to base it on a known reading.
@mallory if it is insulinoma, it is easily treatable and she should have several years of life with treatment.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 8:41:15 GMT -5
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Post by unclejoe on Apr 26, 2015 10:03:02 GMT -5
I would call my vet and leave a message if possible. the vet may check voicemail over the weekend. I would be leaning toward insulinoma based on the seizures and loss of appetite, but 6 months is very young for that. If you have honey or Karo corn syrup on hand, and you see another seizure, you could give her a little and see if she responds. Best wishes. I hope it's not lymphoma.
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Post by Heather on Apr 26, 2015 10:35:48 GMT -5
I'm sorry at that young age you've got a couple of nasties that are possible and none of them good.
Your little one is in dire need of a vet. Even an ER vet who doesn't do exotics can supply sub-q and keep this ferret from convulsing.....get on the phone or do what I do...walk through the door and demand that they follow their oath of harm none.
I'm afraid the green urine does not bode well. She's deathly ill and she will need fluids if she's going to survive. At this age, this isn't insulinoma (I would have rather been able to give you this information) It sounds like the seizure has damaged her mind. I"m afraid that I would have had her into the vet last week when she first started coughing and choking on her food. This isn't normal. What are her stools like and when was her last stool?
ciao
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Post by unclejoe on Apr 26, 2015 10:49:18 GMT -5
I'm sorry, I didn't note the green urine. That could indicate liver problems. She does need a vet asap.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 10:59:10 GMT -5
Oh my, I was so convinced it was insulinoma, I was reading from my phone and I understood 6 years old! 6 months sounds indeed to young for that... and I agree bitbyter, any home BG meter wouldn't be reliable..
I'd follow what the more experienced posters have suggested and rush her to an ER, this doesn't sound like a matter that can wait.
I wish you good luck and hope to hear news from her soon.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 11:18:55 GMT -5
I'm so sorry that Mocha is not well.
You've received alot of good advice.
I know Monday is tomorrow and not too far away, but I wish there was someone closer, who has emergency hours.
Keep her close to you, keep a good eye on her and if she seizes again, try a dab of Karo syrup on her. That's what Unclejoe suggested and that's what we recommend.
Take Vanilla with you to the vet. It will help calm Mocha down. If the worse should happen, Vanilla will need to be there, to wish her friend a gentle journey to the Rainbow Bridge.
All my best wishes to Mocha. Please keep us updated.
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Post by msav on Apr 26, 2015 12:00:21 GMT -5
What you can do now that is really important is to make sure your ferret is not dehydrated. Almost every time any of my kibble fed ferrets got sick that was the first sign. A ferret that is not feeling good will stop eating / drinking. Dark urine could be a sign of dehydration. Kibble fed ferrets are always on the borderline of dehydration normally. So they tend to get dehydrated very quickly after they stop drinking
If the ferret is dehydrated take them to any vet. ASAP to get them SubQ fluids. Any vet should be able to do this. Dehydration if left that way too long will cause permanent organ failure. The fluids will help keep them alive until they can get a correct diagnosis.
I was sold a BG tester from my vet that does dogs/cats and ferrets. It was the same one they used in house for quick tests. They have always had good results with that tester, It always showed between + or - 4-8 from the blood panel tests they do.
It is a Alpha Trak II and it costed me about $70 through my vet.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 12:36:01 GMT -5
Is it possible that your ferret got hold of some type of medication?
When u said unnatural gait and going in circles it reminded me of my daughters schnauzer who ate a pill that is given to children with ADHD. They put her on some type of charcoal therapy .
I wonder if something is blocking her airway as you said she coughed when she ate kibble or has she ate any foreign material?
warm chicken baby food is a good suggestion. If you mix up some beechnut or gerber chicken baby food with water,you probably can get her to drink a very watery mix from a tablespoon. I got one of my ferrets to drink fluids like this when air conditioner went out in 90 degree weather. This was the only way she would take in fluid.
The best thing to do is go to a vet as she might not make it.
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Post by Heather on Apr 26, 2015 13:21:06 GMT -5
As there was no positive response to the karo syrup I would stop doing this. This is a treatment for insulinoma...a ferret who's seizuring at 6 months of age doesn't have insulinoma. This is not the issue. Getting fluids into this ferret is an absolute necessity. Syringe feeding baby food would be a possible solution but as she's kibble fed if this occurred last night, she's already reached the threshold where oral liquids is going to provide any benefit.
Is it possible she got into a toxin? Do you have any rat poisons around, ant traps? The toxins of this type ingested by a pet will cause "green urine" as the liver shuts down and seizures and neurological damage.
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 14:51:36 GMT -5
The emergency vet unfortunately is not someone I trust. Their rough handling and incompetence around "exotics" has been directly responsible for the death of two of our animals in the past. I wish I could trust them because fluid delivery should be a simple procedure but I know she would not be in good hands there. There really isn't anything environmental she could have been poisoned by, a blockage is possible of course but we only free range her in a very safe room. We don't keep pesticides and other harsh chemicals in the house and our medicines are kept in a cabinet in another room. We have 3 dogs including 2 very curious huskies so our house is puppy proofed as well, and we have tarantulas and periodically rescue birds for people so we are very careful what chemicals they are exposed to. Nothing with artificial sweetener either. Mocha is kibble fed. We transitioned her from the Marshall's she was born eating and she is now on a mix of grain free kibbles. We had just started the transition to raw but she was still mostly eating kibble when she got sick. Mocha is asleep now, she actually seemed a lot better earlier - walking without her front legs giving out, wanting to get off the couch and explore, and she gave a good fight when I gave her food and fluids via syringe and she was annoyed with me. She still isn't back to herself and I haven't seen her eat or drink independently since that seizure. There isn't enough poop or pee - probably because she isn't getting enough in her - the urine is greenish and the poop is a little dark but not tarry, bloody or a bad texture. There just isn't much poop coming out of her. I separated Vanilla and Mocha because I was worried that Vanilla would stress her out trying to get her to play. I think I will let Vanilla see her though because she has been pacing all morning looking for her, she isn't even happy free ranging by herself  I don't think it's anything contagious and if it is Vanilla is already exposed so I'm not worried about quarantine, I just didn't want Vanilla to pester her. I'm literally counting the hours until our vet opens on Monday... Thank you for the advice about bringing Vanilla with Mocha to the vet. If she does pass Vanilla will be devastated, as will our female husky Katara. From the day we adopted Mocha, Katara has been so gentle and mothering with her. We've been using her as a heat pad now that Mocha is ill and Katara will just lay there and nap while Mocha sleeps in her belly fur. Most huskies would not tolerate ferrets, even our other husky has to be separated because he treats them as prey, but Katara has a great relationship with the ferrets. I hope it doesn't come to this, but if we do have to put her to sleep, she will have quite the crowd of family there with her. I'm still hoping we don't have to say goodbye. |
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Post by miamiferret2 on Apr 26, 2015 16:10:59 GMT -5
There is also D.I.M. hope it isn't.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Apr 26, 2015 16:20:09 GMT -5
She is less than a year old. I would bet against a stroke or insulinoma. Too young for that. Juvenile Lymphoma, other tumors, a floating blockage, bad upper respiratory infection, D.I.M.
It could be anything. With these animals, it really could be anything. They can even get lung cancer and brain tumors just like humans. She definitely needs to be seen A.S.A.P. that's for sure
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