Hi Everyone,

My boyfriend and I got our first 2 ferrets last July when they were 6
months old. Later in September we brought home a 9 week old little boy
we named Cho. We love all 3 of our ferrets very much.

This past christmas we noticed Cho was having loose smelly stool and
was really lethargic. As soon as the holiday passed I called our vet,
he was out of town until after new years. I didn't know where else I
should take him, I really liked the vet we had and no one else in his
practice treats ferrets. So I booked the soonest appointment I could,
got some duk soup and pedialyte. New Years weekend I was terrified when
I noticed how much weight he had dropped. He was still drinking water
and eating kibble (totally ferret) and would only respond to his squeky
toy for some feratone.

Our vet said he had coccida and gave us albon to treat all our ferrets.
Cho didn't improve. 2 days later we brought him back, there wasn't
any improvement. So we x-rayed him to make sure there wasn't an
obstruction. There wasn't. So our vet said it was probably a bug of
some sort and gave us some flagyl to treat for 7 days and said to
give him pepto and continue the pedilyte.


2 day after that he still wasn't getting better, so I called the vet
and they were gone, out of town for another week. So I brought Cho to a
different vet, this time the receptionist gave us the number to another
vet.

The 2nd vet check his stool, or should I say watery smelly green stool,
and didn't find anything abnormal. Cho had a fever of 103 and at this
point he was still really skinny. We did a blood test, the results came
back normal. Cho's belly was really bloated and he was very gassy. We
have been treating him now for 2 weeks with amoxy and baytril and for
the last 7 days a stomach coater. His stool has gotten a little bit
better, its really runny but is no longer green and smelly. Cho still
is really lethargic. He seems more aware and alert. a week ago he
started pushing his ball around for a few minutes a day. The rest of
the time he just sleeps.

This is my first ferret illness. Has anyone else gone thru this with
your little ones? I really want our little boy to get better. He's been
sick for over a month. If anyone has advice or a story to tell I would
love to hear it. Thank you for reading all of this!

Wendy
cho and his friends riley and ahkee

[Posted in FML 5502]