About 19 days ago Mufassa had a scary problem of falling over, falling
to the side etc. As I had stated then "He was sitting in his cage and
he tried to raise up (prairie dog like but fell over to his left and
back. He did this 4 times in a row. I took him out of his cage and put
him on the floor to see him walk. He was not lethargic but we walking
his normal speed but would do the following fall to his side, fall
forward, try and prairie dog and fall over backwards. His movements
were a bit jerky." The next morning after he had this spell I took him
to the vet, he looked good and his glucose was 191 which was attributed
to giving prednisolone to a ferret who doesn't need it. He was weaned
off the pred over the next week. He received a deslorin implant during
that visit as well. He seemed back to normal and even better, he was
more alert, more curious, more playful, he danced and jump on several
days since then, including Saturday.
Now tonight at about 7pm I went to give some pureed chicken (a regular
3 time a day feeding). He loves it and will squirm in my hands as I
care him from the ferret room to the kitchen where he eats it out of
a small bowl on the counter. Tonight I put him on the counter and he
started to eat. I turned around and walked away (about 5 feet) when I
turned around I saw in kind of fall forward, do a somersault and fall
off the counter. We have padded carpet in the kitchen and no harm was
done from the fall. I checked him over hugged him and held the dish
so he could finish eating. He started doing some of the same behavior
he did 19 days ago. He kind of leaned to his left, stumbled to his
left, fell sometimes to his left. He was walking and moving faster
than normal which is saying a lot for him. I picked him up and he was
breathing faster than normal and it wasn't really regular different
depths of breaths, and not rhythmic. He also had twitching in his
muscles, His neck would twitch then his leg, then his back, and leg
etc.
The only thing I could think of was he was trying to seizure, although
I didn't know the cause. The only three things that I could think of
was Insulinoma, Lymphoma, or a blood clot to the brain. The emergency
clinics here are no good for ferrets. The last time he had these
symptoms I gave him 1.1 mls of Prednisolon (a little to
panicked/desperate). I couldn't think of anything else so I gave him
0.5 mls (1mg/1ml). He would not settle down and kept trying to walk
around. If he went through a door way where the room opened up he
seemed to get more unsteady as if the larger space through him off in
some way. I put him back in his cage and he crawled into a sleep sack
for about 3 minutes then into a hammock. He continued to twitch for a
few more minutes then it seemed to stop. 30 minutes later I checked on
him and he (looking kind of weak) looked up at me.
He is 7 years old has adrenal disease, had some teeth removed a while
ago, and had these two dizzy/seizure??? spells.
Does anyone have any idea on what is going on? I've never seen anything
like this and its seems so bizarre.
He is a sweet ferret. I will be feeding him again in another hour and
a half so I'll see how things go.
His symptoms are close to what you would see with Insulinoma but the
last time his glucose level didn't seem to support that diagnosis.
I would appreciate any information anyone could provide. I will be
taking him to the vet tomorrow morning.
Thank you
Mike
[Posted in FML 6904]
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