Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Oct 3, 2017 18:04:14 GMT -5
Well, just got home from the vet. The boys ate the frog legs beautifully.
Paint bit the vet, and Ratchet pooped on her so, not a great visit lol. No more fevers. But since Ratchet is still a little sneezy, he's taking the antibiotics 5 more days.
They were both also put on pepto bismol for 5 days due to Ratchets poop being diarrhea.
Both were vaccinated, and given their HW meds, and pronounced healthy. The vet was giving me dosages and did a double take at Paints weight. Apparently he's the biggest ferret she's seen. She says she never sees them over 3 lbs.
We put some fish out to thaw for the boys dinner tonight. Should be interesting.
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Post by LindaM on Oct 4, 2017 0:00:12 GMT -5
That's wonderful news to hear! Give those wee boys each a kiss from me. They are doing so well! LMAO! Poor vet.. but hazard of the occupation. Hmm, I wanna just double check with some of the more health experienced admins/mentors about the Pepto Bismol, if I recall correctly, it isn't very animal friendly anymore due to the aspirin (for example I cannot take it due to my allergy to Aspirin). Heather, Sherry, katt, Aftershock, anyone have some advice on this? Which vaccine did they get today? Are they doing alright? Remember to keep an eye on them for the next few days to make sure no delayed adverse reactions occur from the vaccine. Ahahaha! Loki would scare the pants off her then, he's a pretty big boy, and right now, quite tubby too. He's a good size for a Marshall. Breeder ferrets can be bigger and I believe the European lines of ferrets are even bigger still. Let me know how their fish meal goes tonight!
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Post by Aftershock on Oct 4, 2017 1:46:41 GMT -5
From what I understand, it depends on what the vet thinks is wrong with the ferret. When I plugged 'pepto bismol' into the website's search engine I found this under Irritable Bowel Disease- "A note on PeptoBismol: PeptoBismol used to be routinely used as an addition to the Triple Therapy regimen, along with Pepcid. In recent years the veterinary community has begun to recommend against PeptoBismol because it contains small amounts of a derivative of aspirin, which is a type of NSAID. NSAIDs can reduce gastric defenses and increase the risk of a stomach ulcer, particularly in our pets. However, the bismuth in PeptoBismol helps to kill Helicobater pylori. The dose of PeptoBismol is small, and the amount of NSAID in it even smaller. In cases of a strongly suspected or confirmed H. pylori infection, many feel that the added benefit toward killing the H. pylori outweighs the risk of an NSAID-induced ulcer – cost vs benefit. This is something you should discuss with your vet, research, and think about carefully before making a decision at your own personal discretion." I has just hopped in on this thread, and haven't had a chance to go over it- I'm getting ready for bed right now- What are you feeding currently, how much bone in (or bone supplement) are they getting? Also, pictures help a TON. You say diarrhea and I think straight brown liquid poops, but I've seen people call mucousy poops diarrhea as well.
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Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Oct 4, 2017 7:06:31 GMT -5
The boys got their rabies, and distemper vaccines. So far, they're doing well, just sleepy, which the vet said is pretty normal. The vet did say she suspects a Helicobater pylori infection, because of the color and consistency of the poop. It was bright orange, with white blobs in it. That's the best I can describe it, as they cleaned it up, while I cleaned the boys up, because it got everywhere. She told me the dosage they will be on, is very small, and very safe for ferrets. Aftershock They're currently eating pretty close to this menu docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/188mirzToftP_mBktPRP68iWY-XXoYmnFZwmvhnkvI98/edit?usp=drivesdk They're missing the turkey necks, and lamb. I'm unable to find duck, and ran late this morning, so I didn't check if they ate the fish overnight. My husband is supposed to let me know, but it will be a few hours. He gets to sleep late, the lucky duck. I'll take some pictures of their poop tonight if I get a chance. It's agility night, so it depends on how late class runs.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 4, 2017 9:29:21 GMT -5
TBH I would have the vet switch him to carafate. Many vets refuse to use pepto anymore due to the aspirin base. And it does cause issues with those who may already have an ulcer anywhere in the digestive tract.
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Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Oct 4, 2017 9:41:41 GMT -5
Sherry - I can shoot them an email asking about Carafate. It may take some time though. Something happened with her family, and she's taken the rest of the week off to deal with it. She made a special trip in to see Ratchet and Paint because she wanted to make sure they were doing ok considering Ratchet's fever last time, and she's the only exotics vet at the practice.
EDIT: Shot them an email. Hopefully I'll get an answer soon.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 4, 2017 9:46:01 GMT -5
Ah. In that case keep a very close eye. As mentioned it can and has made ulcers much worse. Does he truly need something atm?
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Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Oct 4, 2017 9:48:22 GMT -5
He seems fine to me, but I'm new and I'm not confident in my ability to tell the difference between diarrhea and transition poop. I don't want to ignore something and him get worse, but I don't want to give his unnessicary medication either.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 4, 2017 10:01:23 GMT -5
If an ulcer is acting up he will be off his food (hurts to eat), and grinding his teeth/showing signs of nausea, or both.
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Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Oct 4, 2017 10:13:15 GMT -5
Nope, he eats better than Paint does, and no vomiting or signs of nausea. The vet just called me back, she's in today, and she says she wants to keep them on the pepto and he's on the lowest dose, and won't be on it long enough to do any damage. If Ratchet is still having diarrhea after 5 days, she wants to see him again and we will discuss Carafate then.
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Post by LindaM on Oct 4, 2017 10:24:19 GMT -5
To be honest.. I'm just glad the boys are okay right now. I cannot say that I am happy about them getting both vaccines done at once, that was very inexperienced of your vet to do. More experienced vets would never do both vaccines at once and would wait at minimum a week, at best a month to 6 months, between both vaccines. You're very lucky this didn't cause them to suffer a severe adverse reaction like anaphylaxis.
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Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Oct 4, 2017 10:41:55 GMT -5
All I can say is, the good news is they're ok, and I guess I need a new vet.
I'm trying to do my best by these boys, but honestly, I feel like I keep coming up short.
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Post by Heather on Oct 4, 2017 13:09:16 GMT -5
The first ferrets always leave the ferrants feeling they're always running behind the eight ball. Not to worry and don't be hard on yourself. The learning curve on the first couple of ferrets is brutal. It's a good thing our ferrets love us no matter what the mistakes we make. A lot of the vetting and such is just vets being unfamiliar with ferrets themselves. When I first started with the vet I have right now, she had some old handbook where most of the treatments were outdated and no longer practised. It's one of the biggest issues. You can have an old handbook and most of your dog or cat treatments will be reasonably ok.....with ferret the changes in husbandry even in the last 5 yrs has been huge. For vets who rarely see the animals this can be overwhelming. Doubling up on vaccines is a no brainer though and you can kick her arse for that one, the other is actually giving those vaccines while your pet is ill. That's just plain dumb and she should have known better on both counts. That's not your mistake that's hers. You're doing great, remember to have fun with the wee brats too. ciao
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Post by LindaM on Oct 4, 2017 13:23:06 GMT -5
Nah, hon. You guys have been doing so good, so good throughout this entire switch so far. Becoming a ferrent is its own journey.. often it will smack you about a bit and throw you in the deep end, expecting you to just swim. When I first got Loki.. h*ll, I wish I too had known more, back then I was told they must be vaccinated once a year for each Distemper and Rabies. I thought, "Sure, okay". But then I began to do some research, I even asked here on this forum and I did research online as well, discovering that there is actually big risks in vaccinating ferrets. And with each following vaccine, that risk increases and that even an unvaccinated ferret runs the risk of a reaction their first time. With fuzzies.. everything seems to be a bit of a coin toss some days. Needless to say, I was a wreck with every vaccination given since I researched it all, and I promised myself that it will only be one of each vaccine for the entire life of my fuzzies, given only after 6 months of age (after mom's antibodies have died out). There are other factors also which may require extra vaccines, eg. if the ferret receives their first kit vaccine from Marshall's it usually fails because of mom's antibodies.. thus ferret isn't protected.. if the ferret receives that second vaccine, it kills mom's antibodies and doesn't quite take most of the time.. thus ferret isn't protected and needs that third, final vaccine. Or you wait until they are 6 months old at least, and vaccinate then, which the vaccine will usually take properly at that age. You can give this document a look: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12959385It's not a big study, but even looking through the results, you see how much higher the risk of an adverse reaction is in ferrets when both vaccines are given at once, 10 in 14 have a severe anaphylactic reaction. That's seriously high. I waited on mine until each was past 6 months of age. As for another vet.. I won't lie, I am concerned that she did the vaccines the way she did, most vets would advise against it. BUT, here's the thing, you said she allowed this visit special to see the boys, that's pretty nice of her. Did she ask/find out that you guys feed raw, if so, is she okay with it? Is she willing to listen to you guys? I am currently searching for a new vet myself, as I felt our old vet was just much too inexperienced. They were top notch come the vaccines and good at general examinations.. but me calling and asking about a BG test and getting told they don't do them.. or me needing to give the vet paperwork on what a Waardie ferret is, or how adrenal disease works and why the DES is a good choice for it... and then in follow-up visits to hear he hadn't even looked through the papers.. I'm sorry, that just doesn't work for me or the needs of my furballs. Searching for a new vet, an experienced one, one that is willing to listen, heck, they don't even exactly have to be pro-raw, just willing not to blame everything on diet... it's hard, it really is, and right now my current option is going almost an hour away deeper into the city, as that's the only other closest exotics vet. And I still don't even know if they will be good enough. So the choice is entirely yours dear, do you think she will do alright in other events? This was a pretty big mistake, and personally, I would be concerned what else may occur in a life-threatening event. I could be wrong, she could be great. But this was outright dangerous and ill-informed on the vaccinations on her part.
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Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Oct 4, 2017 14:24:48 GMT -5
The vet I'm using was recommended to me by a good friend. We used to work for a different exotics vet together, and she has 7 fuzzies. She said this vet is wonderful, she used to work for her, and really knows her stuff, which is why I'm a little baffled.
I've worked for the other exotics vet close by (where I met my friend and first ferret), and I wouldn't even trust them with a pet rock. Don't get me started on them, and how they treat their employees or patients. Lets just say, if they were the last vet on earth, I still wouldn't set foot in there.
That vet is actually where I met my first ferret, and she's stuck with me all these years. I had to syringe feed her and pick fleas off her for hours, monitoring her breathing in the ICU.
My plan was to vaccinate them once, and just do titer testing for the rest of their lives. So the good news, this is a one time thing.
I'm used to standing up for my dogs, and I just switched vets after letting my old one have it. But with ferrets, I guess I'm just not comfortable enough, and don't know enough to open my mouth and call the vet on it. When they tried and give my MDR1+ collie drugs that WILL KILL HIM, I may or may not have lost my head, said some really nasty things, and made them give me my dogs files and wipe me from their records. I'm sure I'm some sort of legend there now, and stories are told about the crazy lady.
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