I have to make a hard decision... please help.

[slinkies]

Good evening everyone,

I probably have to take my fuzzy babies to a rescue shelter tomorrow, and I’m having an incredibly difficult time, since I really don’t want to do it.

We have two young ferrets (Marshall ferrets) one a year and the other a year and a half old, our younger sweet baby boy got pretty ill about 10 days ago, and he is not getting better ...

Thursday, November 5, I picked him up and was shocked by how light and bony he felt, he was always our chunky baby, so I got very concerned because I knew something was very wrong. I was busy with my work and wasn’t home a lot, but my kids were home looking after them those few days, I was pretty much absent for most of the time. I also learned on Thursday once I got all my attention on him that he had a very hard time pooping, I decided we had to get blockage protocol going for him . He did pass pumpkin, but he wasn’t feeling any better.

Friday morning I got up early to check on him, and he was very lethargic, so I decided to do more blockage protocol, than since it was Friday we decided to take him to vet because it looked like he had an obstruction, he was very dehydrated as well. I was busy working for few days and didn’t catch this on time I think, so by time we took him to a doctor. They did an X-ray and gave him fluids. The X-ray didn’t show obvious obstruction, but the doctor said because of all gas build up, it’s probably causing him serious discomfort.

I told her that we are not in the position to be able to spend couple thousand dollars on surgery and I will try to do anything I can do to help him, I just can’t spend that kind of money on surgery. Pumpkin really helped him, we also did warm baths, which he enjoyed and was going potty exceptionally good afterwards. He did have plenty pumpkins poops and I thought he was supposed to feel better, but by Monday he was still super lethargic, unwilling to eat or drink, I had to syringe feed him with baby food and chicken broth.

Monday morning I felt very hopeless and called local ferret rescue, they were very gracious and they were willing to pay for second opinion doctor visit, doctor that rescue working with, doctor who knows a lot about ferrets.I took him in, dropped him off and was waiting for at least some answers on what was going on. They did a barium X-ray and and came to conclusion that he didn’t have a blockage, yet he still was dehydrated and even after fluids he was still very lethargic. Doctor asked if anyone was sick in the house, which I said no, and our baby girl who was with him in the same cage is perfectly fine and healthy. Than she asked a bunch of other questions and called him a mystery.

She got him antibiotics and we went home. I had big hopes for antibiotics, but days went by and we are on day six with no improvement, and sincerely I cannot afford medical care for him. I will have to surrender both of them, so the rescue can take over his medical needs... we want him to get better, but giving up both of them is just heartbreaking, and we don’t even know if he will make it, but our sweet girl will have to go with him even though she might not even have him with her there. Today for the first time he threw up all over their cage, which urged me to contact rescue again.

What do I do, wait, don’t wait, I feel like if we wait we might taking his chance away for him to get better, and it could be too late to help him, and if we take him there and he won’t make it, we would give up our sweet girl for nothing...
Please help!

[abbeytheferret6]

It is hard to read things like this. I feel your hopelessness. My vet accepts Care Credit. You pay back monthly--like if you want to do an ultrasound.

I would start asking the kids what they think might have happened. They may have noticed something. If you do not want to use Care credit, I would take him to shelter if they are willing to help him. I would not give up my other ferret. He may be in too much pain to notice if she is there or not. Just my opinion on that.

What does your little one eat?

Hoping he gets better. Do keep us updated.

[slinkies]

Thank you for your reply!
Right now he is on baby food, and chicken broth,we feed him with syringe, he did have few pieces of raw freeze dried meat for the past couple of days, but just a few, I didn’t want him to have much of it. Normally they are on wysong epicen 90 and I also mix a bit of orijen or instinct with it. I was planning on switching to raw, but life has been pretty hectic this year in our family, one thing after another, I just had no extra energy to spent on switching them. I tried to introduce some chicken necks before, but they would literally ran away from raw chicken, they love boiled chicken and giblets though , but mostly they are on kibbles.
As for the rescue they are very bold on not separating ferrets, and they already told me that I need to bring both of them in. They are no kill rescue, so I know they will do anything they can to help him.They think at this point they might have to perform exploratory surgery to figure out what is going on.
For the past 10 days all I do is taking care of him, and I feel like I’m getting nowhere, very frustrating. I have to work this week starting tomorrow and won’t be able to take him to rescue until Monday, so today would be the day I will have to do it, my heart hurts just from thinking about that.

[slinkies]

My kids didn’t notice anything, which I’m not surprised, they are high schoolers, busy with their school and social media. Our little girl , she is my daughter’s ferret, and when we got our boy, he was supposed to be family’s little man, but all care for them is on me and my daughter, other kids pay very little attention to them. Just little play time here and there, it’s all they invest in them.

[PatienceTheVirtue]

I don't want to speak too bluntly, but I feel like exploratory surgery is sort of past the point of helping. He's obviously been feeling unwell for a long time and anesthesia is risky in ferrets - his prognosis likely isn't good following a surgery. Many problems with organ systems would be revealed with proper blood work or the tests you've already had done for him. Any idea what they'd be looking for specifically? Have you ruled out allergies or mold in the kibble causing GI symptoms? Are there symptoms outside of the GI symptoms and lethargy?

[slinkies]

I agree about surgery, I don’t see how it can help him, But it’s hard to argue with people who has been taking care of ferrets for 30 years, I’m just a newbie.
Both of my ferrets eat same thing, and our little girl is happy and healthy.
Is there anything I can try to help him, maybe some other stomach coating?
Slippery elm, maybe? Pepcid?

[unclejoe]

I assume he's on a broad spectrum antibiotic like baytril. depending on the infection, it could take a couple 10 rou9nd regimens. My only other suggestion, which you may not be in position to do, is an ultrasound. It may find out enough for you to make a definite decision without the trauma, risk and expense of surgery.

Care credit gives you 6 months without interest, but after that it's like any other credit card. My dentist takes it too.

I wish you the best. I've lost 4 ferrets this year, but I've never had to rehome one. I'm sorry you have to deal with this, but at my age and soon to be on a fixed income, I think my ferret days are limited to how long my last three live.

[slinkies]

Unfortunately our little boy is gone. Surgery exposed horrible kidneys cancer, with no possibility of recovery, they euthanized him instead of waking him up from the surgery. Rescue has been gracious to us and letting us to keep our little girl, since her buddy is gone. She has been in doctors office since yesterday and probably all upset by now too. Tomorrow first thing in the morning we’ll be going to get her from doctor’s office. So sad, our Little Buddy wasn’t even year old 😞...

[Corvidophile]

I’m so sorry, it’s very hard when they go so young.

[unclejoe]

I'm really sorry. That's unusual for such a young ferret, but not unheard of. I hope your girl has a much better and longer life.

[slinkies]

Thank you for your kind words!
I hope our girl won’t be too depressed, I don’t want to see her sad, she is pretty young too, she’ll be 2 in February.

[okojosan]

Poor baby. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I know there is a type of lymphoma/cancer that hits young ferrets very hard. There was nothing you could have done.

[abbeytheferret6]

That is so sad. I am sorry. We had a sweet male sable that was about a year old or maybe a tad bit older that had lung cancer. We do not smoke, and no one has ever come in our house smoking. Your little boy is not suffering now. Bless his heart.
DIP little angel.

[slinkies]

Thank you everyone,
We brought our girl home, she was very anxious when we picked her up today.
When we got home she was very playful and happy, but constantly pacing.
Someone told me today, that leaving radio on helps animals with loneliness, is it true?
Does anyone has pet insurance? Any suggestions on which I should look into?
Does anyone knows anything about Nationwide insurance?
Would love to hear your opinions, thank you!

[abbeytheferret6]

I use care credit for pet insurance.

My daughter use to leave some doggie show on tv for her schnauzer, but do not know if ferrets need anything.

With my two girls passing this year I am left with one girl and one male but have to keep them separated as he wants to attack her. But anyway, I spend more time with her now since she has noone to interact with. My girl loves to stash toys in her cage and even put them in her clean potties. So I get toys that are safe for ferrets like flat cloth toys---- no button eyes, no button noses, and no styrofoam beads for stuffing. When she stashes them, I will put them back on floor later to give her a little activity.