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Post by anunnaki on Jul 22, 2017 19:01:00 GMT -5
My 6ish yr old male rescue has been sick almost constantly since I got him. He has been treated for a URI 3x in the last 2mo. He has also just gotten over diarrhea and a UTI with the help of clavamox and flagyl. He is back on those two meds and pred for insulinoma. Tonight he started sneezing blood instead of his clear mucus and he has a whistle when he breaths. It's starting to look like he may be having trouble breathing. I have had him on duck soup and in a room with a humidifier with ferret RX in it. He is still eating and drinking but he is very lethargic. I don't know what else to do now? Vet on Mon for a chest xray? I'm not sure when to put this poor little guy down Please help! Thank you!! Update: Bandit just had a horrible sneezing fit and ended up fluffed up and screaming. I don't know what this is! Anyone?
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Jul 23, 2017 9:23:13 GMT -5
How is your little one doing?
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Post by lyles on Jul 23, 2017 9:43:29 GMT -5
That's horrible and I'm sure you are stressed out over it. I hope the vet finds the problem.
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Post by Thérèse on Jul 23, 2017 9:47:24 GMT -5
My 6ish yr old male rescue has been sick almost constantly since I got him. He has been treated for a URI 3x in the last 2mo. He has also just gotten over diarrhea and a UTI with the help of clavamox and flagyl. He is back on those two meds and pred for insulinoma. Tonight he started sneezing blood instead of his clear mucus and he has a whistle when he breaths. It's starting to look like he may be having trouble breathing. I have had him on duck soup and in a room with a humidifier with ferret RX in it. He is still eating and drinking but he is very lethargic. I don't know what else to do now? Vet on Mon for a chest xray? I'm not sure when to put this poor little guy down Please help! Thank you!! Update: Bandit just had a horrible sneezing fit and ended up fluffed up and screaming. I don't know what this is! Anyone? This is a vet NOW situation. It sounds like he is having seizures which often occur when insulinoma gets worse. I don't know about the blood (thinking he may have injured himself during a seizure) but the screaming etc. sounds like a seizure. There is a video on here somewhere of a ferret having a seizure (it warns that it is traumatic viewing and I have not watched it but have had a ferret have seizures). Many years back when I had my one experience with insulinoma (after which I turned to raw and thankfully have not had to deal with that again). My boy got to a point where he had seizures. I didn't know that was what was happening because no-one had ever shown me a seizure or even described one. It was the middle of the night and I heard screaming. I found my ferret, who had clearly just woken up, screaming and in distress. I thought he had something stuck in his throat. I immediately put him in the bath so he couldn't hurt himself and rang the emergency vet (who know nothing about ferrets but I figured that something caught in his throat would be the same as something caught in any other animals throat). He had calmed down but we headed out (a 30 minute drive) when he started up again, screaming and flopping around. He stopped again about half way there and it was then that I realised he was having seizures and that it was his insulinoma (which had been diagnosed about 6 months earlier and for which he had received treatments). He had stopped and as the vet is not ferret experienced I turned back home because there wasn't much I thought they could do now (in my rush I had left my mobile home). I called when I got home and explained. A bit later he went into another seizure (his 3rd by this stage) but it was now nearly time for my vet to open and they are ferret knowledgeable and only 5 minutes away so it was better to wait and go to them then drive for 30 minutes (it was about 20 minutes til my vet would open). I was also texting people I knew who had ferrets to get advice. Both the people I was texting and my vet told me the same thing (he had bitten me mid seizure while out of it and just biting down hard on whatever was there) that it couldn't be a seizure because if he was that far into the insulinoma seizure stage he wouldn't have the strength to bite that hard. The vet said they would stabilise him and do some tests because when they had tried to test his BG they couldn't get a reading. When I got home my phone rang as soon as I got in the door (remember only 5 minutes from the vet). It was the vet, he said yes it was seizures because he had just had another one. We discussed things and decided that there wasn't much hope for a recovery because he had had so many full on seizures by this stage and arranged that the vet would keep him comfortable and I would come back a bit later in the day and we would put him to sleep. However the people I had been texting got in touch 5 minutes before I was about to head back to the vet. One of them had a ferret who had gone through basically the same medical history as my boy had, they had got him stabilised with a suitable pred dose and he was still doing fine a year later without any further increase in his pred. So when I got to the vet I explained about the similar histories and said we had to give him the chance. Long story short, it didn't work for my boy and I ended up at the emergency vets and he was put to sleep then. Sorry for the long explanation but I wanted you to know my experience of this. Get to the vet because the more seizures he has the less likely he can be helped (each seizure brings with it the risk of among other things neurological damage, which means even if you can stabilise the insulinoma, your ferret may not have a good quality of life). Symptoms like this are to me, automatic vet visit. Best of luck, I hope your wee one can respond to treatment. PS both the people I was texting and the vet told me that the screaming is the vocal chords constricting during the seizure and is not necessarily an indicator of pain.
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Post by anunnaki on Jul 23, 2017 10:34:57 GMT -5
Thank you everyone for your replies, he is not any better. Thérèse Thank you for telling me all of that. I'm struggling with the decision to put him down before I can talk to my ferret vet (not working at er vet right now). Bandit has an upper respiratory infection right now and the blood comes on after his sneezing fits. I don't know at what point to just let him go because he's eating and drinking on his own. Did yours still do that in the end?? The screaming fit: this only came on when he was having a horrible sneezing attack in which he does make loud noises during. However, the sneezing seemed to stop and the screaming took over. I was terrified so I rubbed corn syrup and water on his gums and he calmed down. I'm not sure it was a seizure (I did watch the video, same scream) but if it was the vet said that's when I should put him down.
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Post by unclejoe on Jul 23, 2017 11:06:17 GMT -5
It may be managed with pred, if you can keep him going until he sees a vet. You'll have to do the syrup every time, and it may not be enough. Make sure he gets some high protein food frequently. I hope for the best.
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Post by evelynnwith3furbuts on Jul 23, 2017 11:10:37 GMT -5
That sucks but you know what's best for your baby who knows maybe he might get better. That alot of stress if you need advice we are here 😁
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Post by Thérèse on Jul 23, 2017 11:43:15 GMT -5
anunnaki First I will mention that that whole seizing story from start to finish only (ie. first seizure to putting him to sleep) covered a period of about 30 hours. Only you are actually seeing what is happening and really know your ferret. My ferret was devastated by everything and had no interest in things (including fighting me when I was trying to help (pushing me away and turning his head from the syringe). Also when I picked him up from the vet to try the getting the meds right route, the vet had given him an injection that he told me was the same as the pred but would help him overnight so that I wouldn't have to give him any pred until morning. That was at 6pm, he was already having seizures again by 10pm. I tried to stabilise him but nothing helped, not honey on the gums, not food, not meds, nothing and he was pushing me away and miserable so I took him in to the emergency vet about 1am and let him go. He didn't want to fight and I wasn't going to make him. Others thought I should have kept going to find the correct balance of meds but he was done, it was in his eyes. As your ferret has responded to syrup (always follow with something high protein like a bit of meat to avoid a crash) he is not so far along. He is also still interested in things but he does need a vet to get his BG checked and meds adjusted to stop any further seizures. Only you can know when enough is enough. I always look to my ferret, if they are fighting to live, then I will do all I can to fight for them but if they don't have any fight or will to live then I let them go. Best of luck
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Post by anunnaki on Jul 23, 2017 12:03:15 GMT -5
Thank you everyone for the replies. unclejoe Thank you, I feed him almost hourly if he wants to take food that often. After a crash (3x so far) I feed him high protein food. I have only had to do the corn syrup 2x this month after the first one the vet checked his BG and it was at 76 so they put him on .08mL pred. I will ask if they need to up it. Thérèse Thank you again, that is heart breaking to hear it went so fast. Bandit is definitely better than he was a week ago (water diarrhea, not eating or drinking, hardly moving around). He has been eating a ton the last three meals and today he has been walking around. I have been on the phone with the vet and they basically said everything they could do to diagnose him but at this point none of it has a good outcome. We made preparations for putting in down incase he crashes today or tonight. He seems to still have some life left in him but I will watch to see if that changes. Hearing your story really helped me to know what to look for.
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Post by Heather on Jul 23, 2017 12:50:06 GMT -5
Have you tried the pred route to stabilise the BG or at least got a reading. What a tough route, but so typical of some rescues. You do what you can for them. Thank you for caring and loving him ciao
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Post by evelynnwith3furbuts on Jul 23, 2017 13:06:52 GMT -5
Poor baby you know what's best for your baby ok. You got us😁
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Post by anunnaki on Jul 23, 2017 18:06:57 GMT -5
Heather He is on .08mL pred. as we speak and I will be going for another BG test to see how he's doing next week if all goes well till then. He has been fine today other than the yucky breathing sound he makes through his nose (lots of clear fluid). We are on day 3 of calvamox so hopefully that will clear his 3rd URI in 2mo. No sneezing or screaming fits and no bloody sneezes since 4am. I'm not a fan of the place that kept him (they didn't know much about ferrets) 100% cage kept, lights on 24/7, constant "showings" to let kids and people touch him, Walmart kibble, wood chip bedding, and they separated him from his mate to retire him to me because his health was failing. Needless to say within a week the cage mate died at 4yrs old Luckily I have Oxley and my other rescue, my husband, and my son to love on him whenever he needs it. We spoil him but he has been sick almost constantly since I got him. It's a lot to take but I love him so much. evelynnwith3furbuts thank you, that's why I love this place. I have mentioned it to my new friend who has 5 ferts and is becoming a vet. Your babies are so cute I just love them.
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Post by evelynnwith3furbuts on Jul 23, 2017 18:09:51 GMT -5
Your welcome sorry for your loss. Poor baby😢
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Post by unclejoe on Jul 23, 2017 20:01:21 GMT -5
I don't think I would do pred for insulinoma at 76. I've treated a couple for it without enough research. If your ferret was at 60, fasting, and your vet used an AlphaTrak II on dog setting, I probably would. Pred can treat other things, like lymphoma, but is has side effects. Then again, with your little guy being 6 and having other issues, you have nothing to lose. Hug him for me.
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Post by anunnaki on Jul 24, 2017 17:02:26 GMT -5
unclejoe I knew his BG wasn't super low but he was lethargic, vomiting, and was walking sideways and falling down. The vet suspected lymphoma but told me at his age doing bloodwork and xrays for 300$ wasn't going to save him. She ended up saying we should try the pred. and that week he was back to normal so we stuck with it. All I want to do is make him happy before he checks out. I will absolutely hug him for you!
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