Post by cpizzell on Mar 10, 2022 17:49:37 GMT -5
Hello there!
I'm brand new here so I have no idea how active this thread is or if i'm doing this right, so if this is in the wrong place or done incorrectly I apologize. I found this thread trying to find some answers for my ferret, jynx, and figured i'd see if anyone had any advice they could give me or if they've been through something similar.
Jynx is my second ferret, and currently only ferret. I had to have her brother put down about 2 years ago. She just turned 6 three days ago
A little over a month ago I started to notice she was really starting to lose the hair on her tail and her shoulder hair was getting pretty thin. I knew that was a sign of adrenal disease (her brother had it). I also noticed every once in awhile she would lay down and her head would kind of.. tick? Sort of like shaking your head yes, but very subtle. But if I would shake her treat bag she would still come running. Her back legs were also a bit weak. She was a bit wobbly, but she was mainly having a hard time jumping/crawling up furniture/side of her cage etc. than it was walking around.
So I called the vet to get some blood work done. All the blood work came back normal. The only thing was her BG was 61 ( she said below 60 is abnormal). She said we were gonna diagnose based on symptoms and recommend me to a vet about an hour away for an adrenal implant. She also said to keep an eye on her to see if there are any changes in behavior since her BG was so low.
I was able to get into the other vet about a week and a half later. While I was there I told them about the BG and asked if they could check it there because in the week that had passed she had periods where she was just so out of it. To the point I looked up how to tell if a ferret was going blind. She was still eating and drinking good and had good poops and pees. So they checked it and it was at 53. They gave her the adrenal implant (I can't remember what it was called, sorry) and prescribed her prednisolone to be taken every 12 hours. They also gave me sucralfate to give an hour before the prednisolone, but only once a day. They told me to have a follow up appt with my normal vet in about 4 weeks to see if her BG is more stable and sent me on my way.
(I'd like to say at this point that my coworker moved to another shift leaving me working 6 days a week and being away from home from about 1130 am till anywhere from 1130pm to 1am. I live alone. So to say I'm stressed is a bit of an understatement
)
I read that the prednisolone can be hard on their stomach so to try and make them eat before you give it to them. So I give the sucralfate in the morning about an hour before the prednisolone to help with stomach issues there. Then at night I've been mixing chicken baby food and her normal try food together and giving her that before her night time dose.
I noticed she would eat the baby food no problem, but when I would check her food dish in the morning it wouldn't be touched. When I would come home at night probably less than half of what was in her dish would be gone. The couple days i've been able to stay home I noticed she was only eating about twice during the day and it was never for very long. She also has been sleeping more than usual. I'm not sure if this is from the medicine or if she's depressed because i'm rarely home? I'm also not sure how long it takes the pred to actually start working and making a difference? So I called my normal vet to see if I could get in for my follow up appt sooner than four weeks but they're booked till april and said about about possibly doing a dosage change without being seen. So i've been trying to keep a real close on her. In the two days it took from the get back to me she actually seemed like she was doing better (go figure).
She was up and moving around both nights when I got home and both mornings when I woke up. She had some food eaten out of her dish when I got home and was eating the dry kibble in the morning after I gave her the sucralfate. She wouldn't just walk about for five mins and go find a place to lay down, but would follow me around and actually be her old self. Till I gave her the pred. After I gave her the medicine her energy would almost instantly drop. Her eyes would look lifeless and she would take a couple steps and lay down or just disappear and go sleep. Today before I gave her the pred she was perfectly fine, even ate a bit. After I gave her the pred her energy dropped and her back legs didn't wanna work. She'd take a couple of steps and her back half would fall over. It's the worst I've ever seen her back legs.
Now that i've written an absolute book, is this normal? I'm almost afraid to raise her dose after seeing how she is when I give her the dosage she's on now. I go to pick up more of the pred at the vet tomorrow so I can start the higher dosage and I'm going to ask them about it. Depending on their answer I may also call the vet where she got the adrenal implant and see what they say.
I'm sorry this was so long and if it's in the wrong spot. Being away from home for around 60 hours a week is beyond stressful with a sick ferret at home. I'm trying to learn as much as I can and do as much for her as possible. I tried to italize and underline the questions to try and make it easier. Any feedback would be so so appreciated. Hopefully I can figure out how to read the responses since i've never posted on a forum before.
I'm brand new here so I have no idea how active this thread is or if i'm doing this right, so if this is in the wrong place or done incorrectly I apologize. I found this thread trying to find some answers for my ferret, jynx, and figured i'd see if anyone had any advice they could give me or if they've been through something similar.
Jynx is my second ferret, and currently only ferret. I had to have her brother put down about 2 years ago. She just turned 6 three days ago
A little over a month ago I started to notice she was really starting to lose the hair on her tail and her shoulder hair was getting pretty thin. I knew that was a sign of adrenal disease (her brother had it). I also noticed every once in awhile she would lay down and her head would kind of.. tick? Sort of like shaking your head yes, but very subtle. But if I would shake her treat bag she would still come running. Her back legs were also a bit weak. She was a bit wobbly, but she was mainly having a hard time jumping/crawling up furniture/side of her cage etc. than it was walking around.
So I called the vet to get some blood work done. All the blood work came back normal. The only thing was her BG was 61 ( she said below 60 is abnormal). She said we were gonna diagnose based on symptoms and recommend me to a vet about an hour away for an adrenal implant. She also said to keep an eye on her to see if there are any changes in behavior since her BG was so low.
I was able to get into the other vet about a week and a half later. While I was there I told them about the BG and asked if they could check it there because in the week that had passed she had periods where she was just so out of it. To the point I looked up how to tell if a ferret was going blind. She was still eating and drinking good and had good poops and pees. So they checked it and it was at 53. They gave her the adrenal implant (I can't remember what it was called, sorry) and prescribed her prednisolone to be taken every 12 hours. They also gave me sucralfate to give an hour before the prednisolone, but only once a day. They told me to have a follow up appt with my normal vet in about 4 weeks to see if her BG is more stable and sent me on my way.
(I'd like to say at this point that my coworker moved to another shift leaving me working 6 days a week and being away from home from about 1130 am till anywhere from 1130pm to 1am. I live alone. So to say I'm stressed is a bit of an understatement
)I read that the prednisolone can be hard on their stomach so to try and make them eat before you give it to them. So I give the sucralfate in the morning about an hour before the prednisolone to help with stomach issues there. Then at night I've been mixing chicken baby food and her normal try food together and giving her that before her night time dose.
I noticed she would eat the baby food no problem, but when I would check her food dish in the morning it wouldn't be touched. When I would come home at night probably less than half of what was in her dish would be gone. The couple days i've been able to stay home I noticed she was only eating about twice during the day and it was never for very long. She also has been sleeping more than usual. I'm not sure if this is from the medicine or if she's depressed because i'm rarely home? I'm also not sure how long it takes the pred to actually start working and making a difference? So I called my normal vet to see if I could get in for my follow up appt sooner than four weeks but they're booked till april and said about about possibly doing a dosage change without being seen. So i've been trying to keep a real close on her. In the two days it took from the get back to me she actually seemed like she was doing better (go figure).
She was up and moving around both nights when I got home and both mornings when I woke up. She had some food eaten out of her dish when I got home and was eating the dry kibble in the morning after I gave her the sucralfate. She wouldn't just walk about for five mins and go find a place to lay down, but would follow me around and actually be her old self. Till I gave her the pred. After I gave her the medicine her energy would almost instantly drop. Her eyes would look lifeless and she would take a couple steps and lay down or just disappear and go sleep. Today before I gave her the pred she was perfectly fine, even ate a bit. After I gave her the pred her energy dropped and her back legs didn't wanna work. She'd take a couple of steps and her back half would fall over. It's the worst I've ever seen her back legs.
Now that i've written an absolute book, is this normal? I'm almost afraid to raise her dose after seeing how she is when I give her the dosage she's on now. I go to pick up more of the pred at the vet tomorrow so I can start the higher dosage and I'm going to ask them about it. Depending on their answer I may also call the vet where she got the adrenal implant and see what they say.
I'm sorry this was so long and if it's in the wrong spot. Being away from home for around 60 hours a week is beyond stressful with a sick ferret at home. I'm trying to learn as much as I can and do as much for her as possible. I tried to italize and underline the questions to try and make it easier. Any feedback would be so so appreciated. Hopefully I can figure out how to read the responses since i've never posted on a forum before.
