Hi all! Still not quite caught up with my FML but getting there!
 
I have a question the vets here might be able to help me with. Bear with me,
it's a fairly long history.
 
Onyx is a 1 1/2 year old jill.  At the start of the breeding season she was
bred and seemed to progress well.  About 3 weeks into her pregnancy she
developed an abscess on her throat.  My boss (vet) aspirated some of the
fluid.  It was of toothpaste consistancy and brown (like A/d food).  The
cytology showed lots of bacteria and staph.  We tried to drain it with her
awake but she fought too hard and we were forced to mask her down with iso.
The abscess was pretty large (about the size of a golf ball) and we got all
the nasty stuff out and flushed it.  She had already been on Amoxi and I
continued that for another 2 weeks.  It healed well but she reabsorbed her
babies, not sure if that was due to the anesthetic, abscess or what.
 
When she came back into season, I re-bred her.  She did fine and had a
litter of 6.  She was a good mom and tried to take care of her babies, but
unfortunately her milk did not develop and the kits were lost.  She
continued to have good health and so when she came into season again, I bred
her again (no flames, please, I breed according to health, and since she had
not raised a litter felt she was ok to breed again).  This time she seemed
to be falsing, didn't get too fat.  She was due on Sunday Sept.  29, on
Wednesday Sept.  25 she started to have bloody show from her vulva.  She did
not seem to be in any distress and was eating, drinking and playing fine.
On Thursday, I took her with me to work to keep an eye on her (one advantage
of working for a vet :)) It was a good thing I did because she started with
some mild labor contractions while there.  My boss checked her out and felt
since it was still 3 days til her due date, to let it run it's course.
Didn't want to induce labor in case the cervix did not dilate.  During the
exam, I noticed her neck seemed a little thick.  I palpated and discovered a
small abscess starting in the exact same spot as the previous one.  We did a
cytology again and found very little bacteria (my boss said almost a sterile
abscess) but lots of debris.  I started her on Amoxi.
 
I sat up with her most of the night and on Friday decided it was time for a
C-section.  She was pushing but unable to pass anything (babies that is, she
was still pooping and everything fine).  During the car ride to work, she
passed a fetus sized black lump.  My boss palpated and there were no fetuses
left inside her.  The black lump turned out to be a mummified fetus (my boss
said it definitely was from this pregnancy but had been dead for a while).
She is doing fine now, much happier than the last few days.  Abscess does
not seem to be growing, but I will keep a close eye on it and open a drain
hole if necessary.
 
My questions are can abscesses be hormone related since she got them both
during pregnancies and/or did the mummified fetus contribute this time and
the abscesses are unrelated.  I plan to have her spayed when she is back to
normal both inside and out.  It was way too stressful for her and she'll
make someone a wonderful pet, she kept her sweet disposition throughout the
whole ordeal.
 
If any of the vets have any questions or comments, please let me know via
the FML or my private email address.  I have not seen this before and would
like to be prepared should similar things happen again and to know if there
is any way to avoid these things happening in the future.
 
Thanks for letting me take up so much space!
 
Keep up the great work BIG!
 
Tracy and the fuzzies
Mid-Michigan Ferrets
GLFA Show Registrar
[Posted in FML issue 1706]