Oh Olivia what is going on with you?!

[Deleted]

So Olivia is still having weird issues that don't seem to ever turn out to be anything serious or anything at all. As I posted in a previous thread she's been having these weird coughing/hacking fits like something is stuck in her throat, sometimes followed by vomitting.

She went to the vet last night and the vet did a full body palapatation of her (she actually did it a few times) and couldn't feel a thing, listened to her heart and lungs a few times (and then to Sophie's and palpated Sophie as well just in case) and couldn't detect anything abnormal.

The vet didn't think an xray was neccessary at this point and said the only thing it would really show would be juvenile lymphoma which she doesn't think Olivia has because her energy levels are so high and she's acting way too healthy and happy otherwise.

Howver... literally 10 minutes after getting home from the vet Olivia started to FREAK OUT. like I'm talking hacking and crying and trying to dig herself into a towel I use to block the crack between my bed and the wall. I grabbed her and was ready to go straight back to the vet (of course it was like 11pm and we had just spent 2.5 hours at the vet because they had a million emergencies there) but my mom told me to just breathe and give her a second.

And of course she instantly calmed down in my arms, wanted to go back into her cage and started munching down on her dinner. So I kept a super close eye on her all night and she was fine and she's just fine. Pooping, eating, drinking, no vomit, no coughing fits.

So what in the world is going on? If she was a dog, I would swear it was bordetella (kennel cough) because that's exactly what they coughing fits sound like and the coughing can cause them to vomit in kennel cough too because it's so strong sometimes.

The vet didn't want to put her on antibiotics just because so I was told to monitor her closely, bring her back instantly if I notice any nasal discharge and to record the frequency of the coughing/puking and record what her coughing attacks sound like on a recorder on my phone. She's suppose to go back in 2 weeks but I'm seriously considerig taking her back within the next few days for xrays because it's scaring me.

The vet didn't really seem concerned and when she was hacking at the vet (the regular ferret something-stuck-in-the-throat hacking sound) the vet said that sound isn't anything to worry about. But she's still having these long coughing attacks at night where she'll hack up to 10 times and then she's puked a total of 4 times outside the cage playing but only after she eats.

Any thoughts? should I go get an xray to be safe? Or am I just being paranoid? What the heck could it even be???

[Heather]

Refresh my memory...how old is your little one? The cough suggests a couple of things. It could be hairballs, which will be dispelled by feeding pumpkin, hairball remedy, I don't think it's serious enough to warrant vaseline (don't like that stuff but it's awesome for emergencies). If you think that it could be a hairball that might be causing a floating blockage (hacking and vomiting) then a barium xray is a probable solution. Another issue could be viral. Pneumonia can usually only be diagnosed with an xray. You usually won't be able to hear the filled lungs. So listening will probably amount to nothing, only an xray will confirm diagnosis. Heart conditions can cause coughing and occasional vomiting in ferrets. Again, this would be confirmed by an xray. Lastly, (to my list anyway) there is the possibility of stress. The likelyhood of the episode you witnessed after returning to the vet. You held her, snuggled her and she felt everything was right in the world and that was the end of it. I had a boy, Aremis who reacted to the vet in this manner. We eventually decided it was far easier on him to stop taking him to the vet and run with the symptoms (he was already diagnosed with lymphoma). We treated his symptoms as they appeared. This required a lot of journal entries on my part because some symptoms one wouldn't think about so I had to keep a very detailed listing of symptoms for my vet.
ciao

[Deleted]

Thank you Heather! A list of possible causes is SO very helpful!

Olivia is 3 months old tomorrow (born feb 28 of this year), so she's too young for the vet to be worried about things like heart conditions and she seems to be younger than any of the documented cases I've read about of juvenile lymphoma (they all seem to say 4 months is the youngest).

The floating blockage with the hairball sounds like a likely culprit to me, but then again I've been giving them at least 1.5 tsp of pumpkin mixed in with their food daily since day 1, and they also get extra virgin olive oil every other day (1-1.5 tsp per day).

I've also giving them tonic-lax twice since I've had them (but that's just when I've been missing things and panicked about blockages, but then later found the missing objects). The tonic lax has so much sugar in it though and it has petroleum and it has mineral oil which are both bad I'm told. I keep meaning to order the tomylns natural hairball solution that miamiferret uses off the internet but is there any other hairball remedies that are better for them that I can use in the mean time? Or should I just use the tonic lax and not worry about the sugar/petroleum/mineral oil and see if it helps?

The stress thing makes sense too for this particular attack. But the rest of the times she only has the straight coughing attacks when she's sleeping and she only has the hacking followed by vomitting when she's out playing and not everytime she's out playing. So that makes me worry about viral or pneumonia.

Can they do the barium xray and pneumonia checking xray at the same time? I think I better just do it, for my own sanity if nothing else ;D

[sherik]

Maybe she just has a hair stuck in her throat and she is extra sensitive about it. My little Fog does the same thing, has coughing fits. I usually give him a little tone and then he is good.

[Deleted]

hmm that's an interesting thought as well. I just don't see how that could cause her to cough violently enough to vomit?

Also with all the pumpkin and olive oil she gets everyday and the loads of ferretone she had at the vet yesterday to bribe her into staying still enough for the vet to listen to her lungs ;D wouldn't it have come out by now?

What is the treatment course for a hairball causing a floating blockage? Pumpkin and hairball remedy a couple times a day for a few days?

I've decied I am calling the vet in the morning to make an appointment for an xray. they are open 24 hours but I always feel bad calling past 11pm at night just to make an appt because I figure I'm wasting their time they need to deal with emergenicies.

But my mom is going away after next week and I don't have a vehicle so I figure if I don't get the xray done, with my luck, it will get worse when my mom's away and I don't have a car to get to the clinic in the middle of the night. So better safe than sorry now!

Edit: I also forgot to mention that the vet did feel her belly pretty well and she said she would've been able to feel something if there was a big enough hairball in there to cause issues, but maybe there's just a tiny one?

[Deleted]

An experienced Vet can feel most blockages. Depending on where it is of course. Neka's was just outside/exiting his stomach, and the vet was still able to feel it. So hoping that means it's not a blockage for your little one.
Does she stop eating or have low energy at all? If i'm not mistaken this has been going on for a bit?
I know with Neka the energy was a big clue that something was off, even before h started vomiting or stopped eating.
I'd go for the xray as well, it will rule out 2 things and can show some blockages. The barium would not show lungs as it's a solution they give orally that 'lights' the digestive track and will outline any obstructions.

Hope you get some answers soon and that it's nothing serious.

[Sherry]

I'll be honest. We went through the same thing with Lucrezia when she was younger. Again, back and forth to the vet. Nothing showed on xrays.
What we figured is she gets hairs caught in her throat, and yes- it is enough to make them throw up. If it's irritating enough, and she coughs enough, the spasms alone will cause it. Hers was always worse at night while in the cage.
The only things we found that helped were to change the bedding out at least twice a week, and when she had her coughing spells, we'd give a taste of oil, a taste of lax, and about 1/2 tsp of water by syringe. In that order. It worked. It seems like she just needed her throat soothed from all the hacking.
I'm not saying this is what is wrong with Olivia, but it sounds oh, so, similar.

[Deleted]

Thank you for sharing that Sherry! I wonder if that's what it is because her energy levels, eating habits, etc and just way too normal for me to think it is some kind of blockage / pneumonia. I will give that course of treatment the next time she has a coughing fit. She hasn't puked or had a coughing fit since Thursday so now I'm wondering if an xray is even needed. I know it's better to be safe than sorry but I don't wanna stress her out unneccessarily at the vet either.

[Deleted]

I would get the x ray done personally. If it is a blockage you want to find out ASAP so that you can treat it accordingly.

[Deleted]

Olivia is getting an xray as I type this, so fingers crossed!

[Sherry]

Good luck!

[Deleted]

I suspect you have a classic "Princess" onyour hands. A Princess is a very special, demanding littl e girl who expects her life to be perfect. When this does not happen, she panics and flips out since her perfect world is coming to an end. Yes, a fur stuck in the back of the throat is traumatic to the Princess ferret.

A dry hackin cough can be cause b anything from fur stuck in he back of the throat to lymphoma.causes can inclue the following;
1. throat irritation from oreign object, such as fur
2. giardia/tummy bugs, digestive upset, reflux/heartburn - do a fecal.
3. hairball
4. heart or lung issue ( can be congentital defect in young animals
5 mega esophagus (if regergitation is involved)
6. tumor/mediastinal lymphoma.

I would consider having you vet check your ferret's stools for anything that may upset the stomach or cause nausea.

jenifer
6.

[Sherry]

I think the "Princess" theory described Lucrezia to a tee ;D Hopefully, this is the case with Olivia as well!

[Heather]

Any updates?
ciao

[Deleted]

I am pretty sure Olivia is indeed a princess ;D- she had to be sedated and X-rays taken multiple times because of it too

However, unfortunately the X-rays weren't 100% clean. The good news
Is no blockage, no foreign objects or hairballs and no gas pockets to indicate a floating blockage.

The bad news is that her lungs were a little mysterious. There wasn't fluid in them or anything to indicate pneumonia and there wasn't anything definitive enough to indicate cancer but they showed up with white patches on the xray rather than the black they were suppose to be so Olivia is going on an antibiotic for 10 days and then getting re x-rayed.

The even worse news is that there's something strange coming up on the xray in one of her lung lobes - a circular shape appearing that the vet has zero clue what it could be. Thankfully she knows a specialist in the States that she is forwarding the X-rays to for further analysis.

She's hoping the antibiotics will clear up whatever the weird thing was - but they took multiple X-rays and it wouldn't go away (she also had an abnormal spot in her pelvic region but multiple X-rays revealed it was just the positioning of the first xray, sadly the lung thing wasn't that).

I'm off to medicate her now, she's still groggy from the sedative and her poop is pure liquid (I'm assuming from the sedative / stress of being xrayed 10 or so times). Not sure what this could be but im praying it's nothing and that the Meds clear up the lungs and that the coughing fits and vomiting stops.

Please be okay Olivia