VERY sick ferret HELP!

[Deleted]

I took my ferret Lily to the vet yesterday. She is less than 2 years old. 3 days her foot got stuck in the cage for a moment. She laid around for 2 days so I thought she bruised it. She was still eating and drinking. Yesterday, she barely ate and looked worse so took her to the vet. Bet set she was extremely dehydrated and lethargic with slight fever. They did x-Rays to see if anything fractured causing pain and fever. Nothing showed up. They just notes her spleen is big. I could not afford the $300 blood work they wanted. They sent is home with pain medicine and fluid for me to inject under her skin every day.
Today, she is much worse. She will not eat at all on her own. I'm giving her duck soup in a syringe. Still has fever and doesn't want to move. She is making all kinds of noises which vet said is not coming from her lungs. Vet refuses to give her an antibiotic with blood work. I can't afford blood work. What can I do???

[Deleted]

Welcome to the HFF

I am very sorry to hear about Lily not being well.
You will want to continue hand feeding her and making sure she is not dehydrated.

Can you apply for care credit? Is there anyone who can lend you some money?
She sounds like she needs vetting again and I would consider another vet.
I have posted to the Admin boards and someone with more medical knowledge should come online soon to help you with other suggestions.

crazylady unclejoe

[Deleted]

I'd consider another vet. The $300 bloodwork may be the best but is there other less expensive alternatives your vet can discuss?
Is there anything you can do to cut corners financially to have the money for the vet? Back in the day when I didn't make as much money I went on the ramen noodle diet and sold my flat screen tv to cover the cost of the vet. lol

[crazylady]

Hi keep her warm and hydrated try and syringe feed her every hour even if it just a tiny amount ( 15-20 mils every hour this way it is easy for to digest and swallow down as she feel so unwell ) little and often is the key until you can get her to take more and more I don't understand why the vet did not give you antibiotics not everything with ferrets shows up in blood work as for her spleen lots of ferrets have large spleens and get along just fine ( hold up a hob ferret you will see his spleen bulging on one side !)if you can I would try and get a second opinion with another vet she needs antibiotics keep up the good work and please let us know how she is doing take care bye for now
Bev

[Deleted]

I came back to the vet to get the blood work done. Been her over an hour. Vet is saying she is so dehydrated they can't get the blood from her vein. They gave her another syringe of fluid and waiting.

[Heather]

I can't believe they held you for ransom like that. Please keep us posted. Good luck
ciao

[dorena261-Natalia]

i'm so sorry for Lily and i hope that vet knows what he's doing..

keep us posted and good luck!

[Deleted]

I was at the vet over 2.5 hours today. The vet said she got 1ml of blood and will get the results back tomorrow. Still refused to give Lily any antibiotics until blood work comes back. I hand fed her more suck soup and very softened Zupreem. Zupreem is what they typically eat. I offered her water, and little pieces of chicken but she turned her nose up.'If I had found this forum before yesterday I would have taken Lily to an exotic pet only vet in Fairfax 2 hours away. The vet I went to today and yesterday claim on their website they see exotics, but it's incious they don't normally. The vet said she might do 2 ferret x-Rays a year and had to look everything up. I'll post results tomorrow.
In the meantime, is there anything besides Duck soup I should give her that's high in protein?

[Deleted]

Ask your vet for some Carnivore care. That is very good for sick ferrets.
You could mix it in with some 100 percent pure baby food like chicken or turkey.

If you are using Uncle Jim's Duk soup, look for something else.
It is not really a good product.

The soupie recipe on the forum is completely balanced and would be good for Lily.
docs.google.com/document/d/1aRms_O0F38lNSQktABNYDqievQ9GZSR4rRR6fcAcPHA/edit?pli=1

I'm going to link you with a kibble chart. As a holistic ferret forum, we don't advise feeding kibble but it's better to know that there are good quality kibbles and bad quality kibbles out there.
The problem with zupreem is that it has peas in it along with many other fillers to help the meat hold its shape.
Peas have been linked to cystine/kidney stones and kibble manufacturers are slowly moving away from them.

moredooks.herobo.com/search.php?chart=ferret

I also found the forum looking for help for my heart ferret. It was too late for my Ponce but I stayed on and have learned so much. We were new to this area and I could not find an exotic vet specialist. We live in a town with more cows than people. Maybe the right vet would have bought us more time with Ponce. I'll never know now.
That is a large part of why the forum exists. Other ferrents trying to help other ferrents avoid the mistakes that we made early in our ferrenting life.

Hugs to Lily and don's hesitate to keep asking questions.
:wave3:

[Deleted]

The vet said to go to Petco or Petsmart for the Carnivore Care food. I went to both and asked the employees and both said they don't carry it? I will look on the Internet now and see who can ship it. I will also go the the grocery store and get baby canned chicken and turkey in a jar.
I'll post when blood work comes back today.
Lastly, she is still making noises when I gently open her mouth and while she is watered the very moistened dick soup. She also keeps doing something with her teeth. It's not quite grinding but it's not something she's ever done. It's bery repetitive and only when I try to feed her. I'll see if I can take a video later. Do you know what this is?

[Thérèse]

I don't see any mention of poops or pee. I am just a little concerned as this sounds very like how my Diablo was when he had a floating blockage (he may have had it for some time and it was only when it moved and caused a full blockage that problems appeared), so maybe the timing is just coincidental and this has nothing to do with the getting caught etc. The blockage Diablo had was a small piece of clear plastic and did not show on x-rays etc. Only after many tests and attempted treatments was it discovered when we did exploratory surgery. By that stage he was no longer passing anything and nearly died. I had been ensuring hydration by syringing water (subqs had not helped much) but when nothing was coming out I took him into the vet early (he had an appointment later that day for the surgery). His gums were pale and the vet told me later that he was about 30min away from dying (his appointment was not for a few more hours).

Not wanting to scare you but the lethargy, dehydration, not eating etc are worrying me and with no mention of poops or pee, just want to ensure you are considering all options.

[Deleted]

I just ordered carnivore care and it will be here tomorrow.
Lily is pooping and peeing small amounts. I am feeding her myself. She is not eating voluntarily for the last 3 days. Her poop and pee look normal just a lot less of it.
She acts like something is in her throat or mouth with the weird movements she makes when I simply open her mouth. I told the bet this and she dismayed it. Would something like that show up some way in the blood work? How much did you pay for exploratory surgery?

[Deleted]

I would go to another vet. All the vets I went to carry carnivore care and I might be wrong, but no pet store has ever carried it. You can only get it through a vet or online.

[Deleted]

I'm so sorry the little one has to go through all of this.
Find another vet. This vet is just not helping and will not admit she does not have the knowledge to help.

Here is our vet list by country and state:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/13638/vet-country-state

Here is a list that members add to as they find a ferret savvy vet:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/6/list-vet

Ferrets are very fragile little ones. You want someone who is very familiar with ferrets and regularly treats them.
Please keep us posted. You are welcome to PM me with your general location and I will help find a member who is closer to you and knows of a good vet.
Your other option is to contact a local rescue or pet store and ask who they use. They should be happy to help.

[crazylady]

Hi is she moving her mouth in a grinding motion when you feed her ? if so she could have ulcers or the beginning of ulcers and may need something to coat her tummy with before eating as eating food hurts and she realises this so refuses to take anything orally did your vet check her mouth out ? ferrets with bad teeth also refuse to chew or eat food if they are getting pain from there teeth even drinking water causes issues ( think of your self with sensitive teeth chewing an ice cube ) good luck with the blood results take care bye for now
Bev