14 months old and so sick. Please help.

[Stormi the ferret]

Hello. We have a little girl fourteen months old. Very healthy. No animals in home, no cage anymore. Liter box only. Never goes outside. Two weeks ago my daughter noticed she seems lethargic. In the last four days she won't wake up at all. Only to eat alot less.poops are not dry but not very wet either. And smaller than normal. We took her to the vet. Her first visit ever. Brought a stool sample. It came back the next morning negative. We checked her body for injuries and blockages and nothing. We checked her gums, teeth, and skin pull for other things and dehydration and not that either. Yesterday she got worse. Way worse. Couldn't stand on her hind legs. Still won't get up. Hasn't played in ten days. Usually bouncing off walls for five hours of the day. We went back to the vet today. Took forever to get blood. Tested a sample for insolum. Or however you spell it. Also checked her for diabetes and her insulin level. They were fine. He gave her a vitamin shot of some sort. And oral paste for the loose stool. I am now giving her Pedialyte with her food. She's eating a bit more. But still absol zero energy. And what's worse we have to wait til Monday morn for the bloodwork to come back. I'm terrified she will pass. I'm also scared the bloodwork cones back negative and she's still in bad shape. What can this be? What can we do? I know everyone cares about their baby but I need to say this, my wife and my kids mom was murders three years ago. My daughter became suicidal. We were all destroyed. This little girl saved all three of us. I couldnt imagine how we can recover from her loss. Please I'd anyone can help. Please. Also, we noticed in my son's room there a sugar ants. The vet told us how to get rid of them in a safe manor but I'm wondering can this be the cause of this? Maybe she ate something toxic we don't know about. Can that be it? Will the bloodwork show that? We are so confused and scared right now

[Stormi the ferret]

Forgot to say she was 12 weeks when we adopted her, she was fixed, descented, had her first set of shots before we picked her up.

[bree313]

Sorry to hear about your little girl.

It's very important that she keeps eating, if she isn't eating much/often you may need to syringe feed her, ferrets have a very fast metabolism and she'll need her energy to get through this.

Did your vet check her temperature?

It might also be worth getting an xray done if you haven't already, this should show any abnormalities internally.

I'm sure I'm stating the obvious here, but is your vet experienced with ferrets? It makes a huge difference having a vet that is experienced with ferrets.

One more thing to add, if you're on facebook there is a holistic ferrets group on there that gets alot more traffic than the forum. Might be worth posting on there for more advice if you're comfortable doing that.

Hope your girl gets better soon

[Stormi the ferret]

Thank you so much for the response. The vet says he's experienced. I hope he is. There really into this now w us. She is eating when I sit w her. And I have the syringe to feed her if needed. They did say if the blood comes back negative next thing is to do a full x-ray. I'm just worried that I'm not doing enough and something can happen to her while we're waiting. I've been giving her spoonfulls of ensure. And Pedialyte mixed w her dry food. She's eating. Not as much. But she is. She's just so young and was so active for this to come on like this .

[unclejoe]

she's kind of young for insulinoma, but, what is her diet? And what was her blood glucose value? I adopted a couple that were exactly 2 years old that were fed purina cat chow their whole lives. one was diagnosed with insulinoma 2 weeks after I got him, and 1 six months after. Irritable bowel is a possibility, or maybe helicobacter. these should have been part of the fecal and blood panels. they are all treatable.
A blockage is hard to diagnose without imaging, other that decreased appetite and stools. I hate that I just found this on a saturday night. If you can get to an emnergency vet, do so and get abdominal imaging to check for blockages. I wish you the best

[Stormi the ferret]

Thanks for the response. Her diet is Marshall premium dry food. Idk what her glucose level was only that he said it was deff normal. And we won't have the bloodwork back til Monday morning. She's just eating alot less even with the Pedialyte and a tiny bit of ensure I'm giving her. And she has no energy or desire to stay out of her bed still.

[Stormi the ferret]

Forgot to add this. Both visits to the vet this week he checked her temperature. I thought she was burning up. Both times it was around 100.1. So no fever. She weighs 1.9 and 1.95 both visits. Again as of now she's eating a bite at a time. Rarely. She won't take the Gerber chicken baby food not even with a syringe. She won't lock some of the ensure that she did the other day. She won't even drink the Pedialyte w the water. We think the vet is experienced w ferrets.afrer he took blood he told me has the machine to rest the blood but doesn't have the rest cards for ferrets. And that's why we have to wait til Monday to get the results. Shes so lethargic. And hasn't done anything besides go right back to her sleep area under a dresser in her bed. I get her out. Comfort her, try to get her to eat. She scrambles to get away and goes right back there and back to sleep. That's been the routine for five days at least.

[unclejoe]

Temp is good, so probably not an infection. Idon't know how much more I can help except to try to get food in her. I know it's late sunday afternoon, if you have a coffee grinder, grind a little kibble for flavor, or however you can get it to powder form, mix in some baby food and get it thin enough to syringe. hoping for the best for your little one'

[stormitheferret]

Thank you all so much. Shes been a little more alert when I make her get up. She had a normal poop a little while ago. But when she walks her hind legs aren't supporting her well. She stay up for ten minutes than darts right back to her safe space. A bed she dragged under my son's dresser a year ago when she was a baby. Been like this for a week or so. I'm praying this vet does know what he's doing and the blood test can show something curable. Otherwise idk. I know I'm having dreams these last two days on how to prepare my kids if she passes. I can't handle this. We're just getting back to normal (if you can call it that) from my wife's murder. I'm hoping I didn't spend the last week working with a vet that doesn't know how to treat them. There are times I believe him. But then there are comments made that make a newb owner like me say wait, that's not right. I just don't know.

[stormitheferret]

Update. Vet just called. They ran 12 tests of the 24 he wanted to run due to tiny amount of blood we were able to get. All normal except her liver level was a little high. I think he said should be 7.2 and was over 10. He said it's prob gi related to change her diet. But she looks like she's almost dead to me. And I'm getting her to eat ground up kibble with Pedialyte. She's eating bowls at a time! Clearly diarrhea from that. Still stools are less. Now our only thing to do is go back to him try to get more blood for a full test. Or start all over with another vet. Idk what to do.

[stormitheferret]

Update: went back to vet just now. He still can't get blood from her. And idk if we should allow sedation today. While there she used the bathroom 1 and 2, he was able to get fresh sample tondo a urinalysis and stool test today. This will be her second stool test. He gave her a long lasting two week antibiotic injection. He also gave her a huge syringe full of fluids in her shuolder area. Caused a lump he said thats normal to message it in. She cried something aweful while trying to take blood. She is still eating the ground up kibble soup. And her poop was bigger but very loose. I'm totally at a loss as to what to do.

[unclejoe]

the fluid injection was probably because she's getting dehydrated from not drinking. The soup will help with that. she is eating so that is good. Marshall's is not the best, but now isn't the time to switch,, imho. ferrets do live their whole lives on it... That said, if she is eating a lot, she may not need the pedialyte. Just make the soup with water. for whatever else marshall's is, it does have nutrients. diet changes can cause poop changes. And pooping rules out blockage. If she gets sedated to do x rays they can get blood then. My vet uses a little gas to place implants and to get blood if needed. It's not as rough on them as a general anesthetic.

[Corvidophile]

I have no advice to give but I do hope she pulls through, I’m rooting for you.

[bree313]

I'm so glad your little one is eating more, and I second that you should try making her soup with just water, maybe every second meal or so.

If you are contemplating getting a second opinion from a different vet, do some research on the vets you might go to, call them and ask if they request patient info from other vets when they get a new patient. Call your vet and ask that if you find a specialist would they be willing to release the results they have or ask if they can give you all the reports/results they have. It might be a way to save some time ease some of the financial burdens on seeing another vet.

I think the latest attempt at taking blood sounded very traumatic for you both, UncleJoe's suggestion about a little gas would be something I would consider moving forward.

I think I saw your post on fb, I hope you got some helpful advice there.

Hoping for the best for your girl