Hello all!

New FML subscriber and overall ferret newbie here. We have owned
ferrets for about 2 years now, and besides losing two to lymphoma and
a surviving ferret with a chronic heart defect our fur babies have been
pretty healthy. The exception being reoccurring tonsillitis - we have
a vet appointment for Monday and depending on the diagnosis this will
the 3rd or 4th time in 2 years we have had this problem.

Symptoms in all four ferrets - swollen tonsils, "loud" eating (no
gagging on food so far), occasional cough

Additional symptoms in a couple of the ferrets - swollen lymph nodes,
decreased energy, decreased appetite.

(This round of sore/possibly infected throats is not as bad as a month
ago when we also had runny noses, gagging on food, sneezing, and
persistent cough.)

I have Tussin and some leftover Carafate, so I can make them more
comfortable until the vet, and have been doing soup as well.

My question is this: Has anyone else dealt with this? Could the weather
changing or environmental irritants be triggers for this sort of thing,
or is it just a bacteria that keeps making its way into our house,
and/or never left? If it sounds bacterial, any tips on how to disinfect
better to prevent this from coming back again would be greatly
appreciated. Feel free to e-mail me directly.

Thanks so much for your time,
Andrea
{{With kisses and dooks from
Dewy, Rizzo, Bea Arther, and Simba}}

[Posted in FML 7190]