Randomly Swelling Face?

[Kayla]

Hey all, thanks in advance if anyone has some advice for me. I'm owned by my first little ferret, Dukes who will be turning 3 on May 22. Within the last six months, we have been having an issue of what my vet calls a simple allergic reaction. Ive yet to find a correlation between the incidents, the first occurring when I brought my first real christmas tree into my home before Christmas last year. I woke up in the morning and found my little boy curled up on the floor in his sleeping bag shaking and swelled up like a balloon and fire engine red. I couldn't find any noticeable bite wounds from any insect, and assumed it was the tree and rushed him to the veg, which is also where i work. The vet decided that since his temp and heart rate were both fine that it was an allergic reaction of unknown origin and gave him an injection of dexamethasone and children's Benadryl. After 4 hours the neither things had worked so another injection was given. The second one seemed to help and my both was back to normal. Fast forward 2 months and come the first nice day of the year I opened a window. Next morning my boy was headed in the direction of another episode, packed him up and off tow work we go. I given him benadryl, nothing. First injection of dex worked like a charm, back to normal. Now again tonight my boy has started with the same thing, only he had vomiting before had which i chalked up to him drinking  then running around like a mad man after eating a full meal. After he quieted down and went to sleep by the open window within 3 hours i noticed he wasnt coming outnto play and low and behold i get him out and he is on the verge of becoming a balloon again. I immediately get some pred into him and benadryl and right now after sleeping in my lap for 40 minutes the swelling and redness is gone. He is still lethargic but seems much more calm and relaxed. 

I guess my question is: has anyone else experienced this? The windows haven been open for days and ive yet to see an insect around ( i know they are though) that could have done this. To be honest i do not agree with my vet when it comes to ferrets, she doesn't seem as knowledgeable as she should be, but she is all I have in the area I live. Im at a loss on what to do.

Thanks for any help that can offered
Kayla

[Kayla]

Sorry for the poor grammar and spelling. My laptop broke and my iPad is impossible to type on.

[bitbyter]

What is his diet? I have one who has allergic reactions like this and it is food based for her. Extreme itching and paws swelling. If it gets bad enough her head / face will start to swell. If it goes on long enough he digestive system starts going out of whack (vomiting / diarrhea) Long story short it took me about a year to determine that it is most likely antibiotics in the meat that are causing Wilma's reactions. She is fine on locally raised rabbit, frozen mice, rats and guinea pigs. The evidence that pointed me in the direction of the antibiotics is that she will blow up like a balloon on regular poultry and pork but is fine on organic meats (0 reaction).

I am not say this is the case with yours but it might be something to investigate.

[Kayla]

Thanks for replying! I actually feed him wysong kibble, not the best i know...but better than any other kibble. I never could get him to fully eat raw food, even with weeks of trying. When I first got him it was with my brother and he refused to feed him raw and I refused to feed him store bought food. All we have around where I am at is petco, which is where we purchased him. Im against Marshalls, and wass looking at breeders, but. I saw my little guy in the cage being beat up by the bigger females and it broke my heart. I do feed hills science precription diet feline I/D kibble and canned and chicken baby food incase i ever need to feed him something different in a bunch (my vet suggested it, at the time i had no other options). He has been on Wysong since he was 5 months old and loves it, never an issue...and this is so random i cant contribute it to that. Ive seen food allergy manifestations in dogs and cats at work and this is nothing like it.

[Thérèse]

It does sound rather random to be diet related but still could be. Things to remember about allergies, they can start at any time and can change, often get worse with continued exposure to the allergent, although some also disappear. Partly this is what makes it hard to identify what is causing it.

My instinct is that this is environmental and because it seemed to begin with the Xmas tree's arrival I would start with anything pine. Recall many years back someone whos ferret had a reaction to a pine dresser she got (assuming it probably wasn't treated properly but don't really know). As it seems to maybe be related to the windows being open, check for pines nearby (although it may be some other plant or may even be an insectide or something used on the Xmas tree and also by someone in the neighbourhood). Also are there pine products being used in your home, litter, cleaners, air freshners, anything. Maybe there are some hidden needles from the tree still. All this is just a suggestion on somewhere to start but finding an allergent is often by exclusion and observation. Exclusion is removing something that may be the cause one by one and seeing if it changed things. Also keeping a diary of everything your ferret eats, drinks and comes in contact with, and looking for patterns for when the incidents occur.

It's not easy to identify what may be causing a possible allergy but hope this helps and best of luck with your boy

[Kayla]

I only have a 2 room apartment and everything is nearly ferret proofed. Child locks on the cabinets (and fridge! He is amazing what he can do). He os very limited in where he can go. Im assuming it to be inhalant allergies, since the windows are open....but they have been for days now. I use eco friendly non scented cleaners, and when i do the the monthly high end clean i take him out of the apartment for the day. And the episode don't correlate with that either. I guess i just take a watch and see approach and not panic everytime it happens (easier said then done). He came out of it pretty quick last night once the pred got in him.

[Deleted]

You certainly have a mystery. I would follow Therese's hunch and check all your products. You said that you are using eco friendly products. Pine is eco friendly and if you check your products, you just might find Pine in them.

Take a look at our vet list and see if there is a good ferret doc, close to you. There can be a huge difference between a vet that will see ferrets (but mostly sees dogs and cats), and a ferret doc who specializes and understands ferrets.


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