Our 5-year old male ferret, Nolan, gave us an extreme scare last night.  I
have an automatic "doorbell" on their cage that tells me when Nolan or Maila
is up; this is to make sure I'm there to ensure litter box use when the cage
is open!  I heard the bell go off last night, and went up to check on who
came out.  Nolan looked at me, then dropped his head to the floor and
started salivating.  Obviously, something was quite wrong with him when I
picked him up and he was totally limp.  I noticed that he was becoming very
pale, and he began to feel cold to the touch.  He began a feeble squirm, so
I put him down to see if he would use the litterbox, and he could barely
walk.  He just stumbled around, then put his head down in the litterbox.
 
This was quite serious, so I called the vet to arrange an emergency visit.
As I waited for a call back, I held him as his breathing became very, very
shallow, and his color was almost gone.  He was dying right in my arms for
no good reason!  Just several hours before, he was totally fine and acting
completely normal.
 
After we rushed him to the vet, he was immediately given a catheter and an
injection of something I can't remember right now in order to bring him out
of shock, if that is what was occurring.  His temperature was measured at
92.2 degrees.  X-rays showed nothing abnormal, and a quick glucose test was
also normal.  RBC was normal, although it took a very long time to get a
sufficient amount of blood because he had almost no blood pressure.  he was
put on fluids and placed in an incubator to try and warm him up over night.
 
I was sure that he wouldn't make it until morning.
 
This morning, the vet called to say that he was doing much better.  He was
eating and drinking normally, and when I took some of his regular food to
him, he seemed to act perfectly normal.  A blood draw was done, and
everything checked out ok, but the electrolyte test is not back yet.  His
heart sounded fine, but he has been on taurine and L-carnitine supplements
since being diagnosed with cardiomyopathy last year.
 
Nolan is being held overnight again for observation.
 
I am dumbfounded.  I knew he was at the end last night, and couldn't see
how he could possibly pull through.  He was getting worse by the minute.
But, somehow he came back.  I hope that a definitive answer can be found to
tell me what happened.
 
---
Randy A. Brown
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[Posted in FML issue 1535]