Hi all,
 
Our 4 year old ferret, Farty, has been vomiting occasionally over the
last couple days or so.  I first noticed this on Thursday and then he
vomited again today.  His recent medical history is an unsuccessful
adrenal surgery in August (affected gland was solidly attached to his
liver and vena cava), and an emergency visit to the vet in July, that
I think was a matter of being overheated.  They took blood and did a
fecal and came up with nothing (except a $350+ bill).
 
We have been in the process of retiling their room.  We were having them
out there to play (they are up in the main part of the house right now
when they're caged, due to the warm weather) with some of the flooring
not completed (there was just regular concrete underneath).  Worrying
that they were getting sick from something out there, we kept them caged
for the last 2 days.  I finished the tiling today, swept and mopped their
room and cleaned everything up and then put them out to play.  As soon as
I got them out there, Farty started throwing up.  I am not so sure it has
anything to do with their room since his vomiting episode Thursday
started about 18 hours after they had been out to play last.
 
Another of our ferrets, Weasie, had been having episodes of
heaving/vomiting a little bit of liquid maybe 3 or 4 times over the past
week to 10 days.  I believe she has also started to develop insulinoma,
as about a month ago, she was almost in an insulinoma coma but we
successfully brought her back with honey.  Since then, she has been
getting duck soup 2-3 times a day everyday and has regained her weight
and is alert and energetic.
 
So, could these two be related?  Could there be something in the house
that has been making them sick?  If so, why arent our other 4 affected?
They are never out in the house, only in their playroom and everything
has been cleaned.
 
We were in the habit of giving them ferretone (probably too much)
everyday when they went out to play, but we've stopped that, to see if
that was the culprit.  Something tells me that has nothing to do with it,
as I would imagine too much ferretone might cause diarrhea, not vomiting.
 
I have become more and more disenchanted with our "ferret" vet, as he
had never even heard of ferrets living with no adrenal glands!  He also
knew nothing of melatonin implants, and had never even heard of using
melatonin tablets for ferrets who arent candidates for adrenal surgery!
We used to have an excellent ferret vet, but last year she quit at her
clinic and now just does emergency work.  The somewhat clueless vet is
the one who did the adrenal surgery for Farty and Chunky, and after
spending over $450 for Farty's failed surgery, I cannot afford to take
him to another vet to see if he can do anything more.  The next closest
ferret vet to us, I believe, is over an hour away.  The last thing I
want to do is to spend another $350 at the clueless vet for him to tell
me he doesnt know what's wrong with him.  Please, anything you can tell
me would be appreciated!
 
Becky and Heather and the Sensational Six:  Farty, Chunky, Nugget,
Weasie, Holly and Bob
Missing: Ally, Sleepy, Peanut, Mialey, Egan, George, Abby and Digger
[Posted in FML issue 5039]