My 7-year old ferret, Ellie, prolapsed yesterday morning, meaning that
her anus became inverted due to straining while trying to defecate.  I brought
her to the vet right away.  He said that the cause was dehydration, and he
gave her a fluid injection.  Has anybody else ever seen this happen?  I asked
the vet if the prolapse would correct itself, and he said that it might return
to normal after a few days.  My question is what to do if it doesn't return
to normal.  Also, what should I be doing for her in the meantime?  All in all,
it looks pretty awful, and she scrapes traces of blood everywhere she goes.
I can't imagine that that is very safe or very comfortable for her, so I would
like it to get better as quickly as possible.  So far I've been giving her
lots of watery ferret soup, which she just loves, and that has helped make her
stools nice and runny.  Dr. Williams, do you know anything about this sort of
problem?
 
   On a cheerier note, while I talking to the veterinarian, he happened to
mention that ferrets are going to become legal in Michigan in April.  This
would be wonderful if it were true, but I'm still incredulous because I hadn't
heard anything about it before.  Can anybody out there confirm that that is
definitely true, or dispell the rumor?  Poor Ellie... she was enjoying her
life as a contraband ferret. :)
 
   By the way, Melissa, this time I tried the vet that you bring Potpie to.
Thanks a lot for the suggestion.  He was excellent.  He and his assistant went
way out of their way to make Ellie comfortable, and the vet took a lot of
time to explain everything to me.
 
Julie :)
 and
  Ellie :o
 
[Posted in FML issue 0745]