Willie suffered a seizure this weekend.  We were playing in the ferret room,
and he was fine one second, the next second, his whole body lost control.
His head was bent awkwardly back, sort of like it was glued to his back.
This lasted for 30 seconds at least.  At first I thought he had fallen from
the chair that he was under and somehow broke his neck.  My SO and I were
afraid to pick him up at first, we didn t want to hurt him anymore than he
was already.  We had never seen a seizure before, so we really didn t know
what the heck was happening.
 
After the seizure, John picked up Willie and cradled him, his eyes were
distant and he was completely limp.  I had already placed a call to the
emergency vet, and we were waiting for the call back (it was around 8:30
Saturday) .  We thought he was going to die right then in John s arms.  Very
slowly, he started to come out of the stupor that he was in.  At first he
would drag his legs behind him, and then he managed to walk a little.  The
vet called and said that she thought it sounded as if he were in
hypoglycemic shock.  She asked us to give him some honey, or corn syrup,
just to help bring him out of it.  I mentioned to her that the ferrets all
had flea collars on, and asked if this could have caused the problem.  She
said the flea collars made her very nervous and that I should take them off.
The collars were for dogs, cut up into ferret size pieces.  Needless to say,
they are in the garbage now.  They had all been wearing flea collars for
over a month now, off and on.  I purchased the particular collar that Willie
was wearing last week.
 
Anyway, She said the seizure could have been from Insulanoma, the flea
collar, or simply not eating.  I am not sure how much he had eaten that day,
due to the fact that he lives with several other ferrets that share his
food.  He appears healthy, and is not dehydrated.  His poop looks normal.
He has some hair loss on his tail, along with blackheads.  But so does my
other Albino Male, Oscar.  I had attributed this to the seasons, it is time
for a coat change.  He came out of the seizure seeming pretty normal,
although he has spent less time playing.
 
Willie was sick about three weeks ago with what looked like a flu.  We had
him on amoxi drops first, then switched him to another antibiotic which
seemed to do the trick ( I can t think of the name, it started with a T ,
something sulfa elixer ).  He has been off of the meds for at least 2 weeks
now.
 
He has an appointment on Thursday to see our regular vet.  I read the
Insulanoma FAQ, and will give it to my vet on Thursday.  The only symptom
that he matches according to that FAQ is the one seizure.  He seems healthy
in every other regard.  Is there something else out there that we should
look for on Thursday?
 
Thanks
 
Adrienne
Willie, Nikita, Sampson, Bear, Oscar, Daisy,  & Sandy
 
Happiness is a dancing ferret
[Posted in FML issue 1701]