|
Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 11:06:24 GMT -5
My 7 year old ferret Mimosa is having some very vague problems, and I don't know what to do. The only recent changes are these: I changed her diet from Marshall's to EVO in November 2010, then started the raw diet this January or February I think. She started refusing the raw suddenly, and would even aspirate if I put the soup right in front of her. So I stopped pushing it on her. She mostly eats the EVO now, but I've seen her pick at the raw on her own now and then. Right about thsi time it seemed like she forgot how to eat dry and would wolf it down so bad she'd choke and puke up a chunk of it, then eat it again. In November I also switched their litter from Yesterday's News to Carefresh Natural. Over the past three weeks or so, she has been acting funny but I can't put my finger on it. She's itching madly. No fleas or mites, shes on preventative and I haven't seen any flea bites. She itches everywhere, not just one spot, to the point where she makes a scab. She's also overgrooming herself so much that we thought she had hair loss, but in fact the hairs are just bitten off very short. Over this period she has thrown up several times but never all at once; just when I saw her eating too fast and two other times where I couldn't tell why since her gagging and heaving produced nothing. Last week she got the flu from my husband and then she passed it to me. She's been so clingy while sick now, poor thing, and I was cuddling her and she sneezed all over me So there's that too. But the incessant itching and overgrooming and intermittent vomiting are strange. She's also grooming her two sisters to the point where they cry out but she HISSES at them and makes them let her. What in the world could this be? Any ideas? Her symptoms are so vague I don't know what to think.
|
|
|
Post by Heather on Mar 18, 2011 14:42:29 GMT -5
At 7 yrs of age, she could easily be adrenal. Those certainly are some of the vague symptoms. Stomach upset is also an adrenal symptom The stress of the disease causes ulcers. Some are more prone to this symptom than others. Her hyper grooming and itching is one of the key symptoms. Is her vulva swollen at all?
ciao
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 14:49:46 GMT -5
No not even a little bit... I also watch their stools for any tarriness or darkness, as I know ulcers usually produce bloody stool. She's also scratching her face around her whiskers. Today I caught her grooming my other ferret's ears so bad they were bright red. Had to separate them.
|
|
|
Post by miamiferret2 on Mar 18, 2011 16:28:59 GMT -5
sounds like adrenal disease. can you get her on lupron or deslorelin? or give her some oral melatonin and see if she responds to that.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 18:58:29 GMT -5
I guess I am in denial. But, that's why I posted about this, to get ideas as to what's really wrong...
What is it that tips you off that it's adrenal? She doesn't mount or hump, she doesn't have hair loss, and I don't see any symptoms of it that are familiar.
|
|
|
Post by zoshi on Mar 18, 2011 19:05:34 GMT -5
The scratching and overgrooming are some of the key signs of adrenal, from what I remember.
It's a bit difficult with adrenal sometimes - sometimes you get really in-your-face symptoms, and sometimes it's just barely there. I know with Tikki it was just a slightly swollen vulva and thinning fur on her tail. She had no mounting behavior, no grooming, no stomach upset, and no real behavioral changes.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 19:24:39 GMT -5
I agree - adrenal would be my first guess. From what I've read, signs can be very subtle.
|
|
|
Post by goingpostal on Mar 18, 2011 19:56:25 GMT -5
My first adrenal's only signs were excessive itchiness. We ran a Tenn. Panel on her as she was very young, no obvious signs and she was in fact adrenal but there's different hormones that can be out of whack and hers wasn't the one that causes hair loss. At least that's how it was explained to me, this was several years ago and before I started requesting all the test result copies for my records. The other females 1's sign was thinning hair on her tail and then enlarged vulva, one male was sexual aggression and the other was dropping hair. Signs are all over the place in this disease.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 18, 2011 20:04:25 GMT -5
Sounds like adrenal to me as well. Again- the extreme itchiness, as well as the obsessive grooming behaviour. She's mothering them to the point of causing sores, both to them, and to herself. Adrenal doesn't necessarily come with the fur loss, or the mounting behaviour. My vet will start lupron based on personality change, if nothing else is apparent. Athena had no fur loss, no swollen vulva, no exessive grooming, nothing. She simply lost weight, and became very timid. The lupron brought her back to her old self, which is how the vet diagnosed her.
|
|
|
Post by Heather on Mar 18, 2011 20:05:56 GMT -5
Hair loss has not been my first clue for any of my guys. I've found that hair loss happens toward the end for my brats. Pooka and Lady B are the only ones who actually suffered hair loss and Pooka was the only fuzz who was "fuzz-less" ciao
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 20:36:36 GMT -5
My adrenal clues with my male were that he became extremely itchy and weirdly grooming-aggressive to my other male (not my female, though). By the time I figured out what was happening, he had started to lose a little hair on his belly and tail. Within a week after getting him on Lupron, he was back to his normal sweet self.
Later my female also was adrenal... she was itchy, though not as much as my male had been, and actually got a bald spot on her hind end. No sudden personality change or swollen vulva with her.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2011 9:27:07 GMT -5
Wow. Well she's the oldest and I've had her the longest, she's always been motherly to the others but not to this extent. Is there something I can do for her skin in the meantime until I get her treated? And if I treat her now with deslorelin, is there a possibility I'm catching it early enough to make a difference?
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 19, 2011 9:30:12 GMT -5
For her itchies, try giving her some salmon oil, as well as some olive oil. Both help skin and coats, among other things. As for treatment, the des should help her a lot. I haven't used des, but Sinnead's been adrenal 3 years, and we've just now had to start supplementing her lupron with melatonin.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2011 12:33:30 GMT -5
You guys are right. Last night and today she has started aggressively biting the other two girls on the neck and hissing. With no context. Her overall behavior is very abnormal, and she is starting to lose ALOT of hair on her shoulders, although she is scratching alot there too. There are shorter hairs mixed in so I'm guessing some of them have just been broken off. *sigh* At 7, I really thought she was going to be one of the lucky ones. I can't believe this.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2011 12:47:01 GMT -5
Adrenal isn't a death sentence - most live very active and happy lives years after being diagnosed. I would start looking to a des. Implant for treatment. You can use that in combo with melatonin, or lupron + melatonin.
|
|