Toilet paper and paper towel rolls can be extremely dangerous to ferrets.  I
have heard of them strangling to death after getting their head stuck inside
these.  I always cut or tear the cardboard roll open lengthwise before I put
it into the trash basket.
 
Regarding ferrets with enlarged spleens, we have found something that has
helped the condition.  When Riley developed an enlarged spleen, we started
feeding him dehydrated spleen twice a day in a mush formula. (I crush the
tablets to make a powder.) Within about two weeks his spleen began to
decrease in size and continued to do so quite rapidly.  It shrunk to a very
reasonable size, and we were able to maintain him this way for eight months.
After that the dehydrated spleen no longer had an effect on him, and the
spleen began to grow again to a very large size, and at that point our vet
removed it.  Huggy has been on this product for about 10 months, and his
spleen is being maintained at an acceptable size.  He is not a good
candidate for surgery, as he is very old and becoming a bit weak from
advanced age, so we are happy to see this help him.  I have a couple of
friends who have tried it with their ferrets and had some success, and my
vet has been impressed with the results so that he has come to recommend it.
Dehydrated spleen can be found at some health products stores and also in
health products catalogs.
 
I have had two ferrets actually scream in their sleep.  It is terrifying to
hear this.  Both ferrets had insulinoma, and they were seizuring.  The fact
that Hershey went into a deeper sleep after that makes me suspicious.  I
have never had another ferret scream who wasn't ill - and we've had 48 pet
ferrets.  I would watch Hershey closely for other signs of insulinoma.  What
I do in case of insulinoma seizure is rub Karo syrup onto their gums a
little at a time until the ferret begins to come out of it.  When he is
awake enough I then give him a small meal of soft food with protein, such as
baby rice cereal mixed with warm water and a little baby food canned turkey
or lamb.
[Posted in FML issue 1692]