Hello once again.
 
Did we have a scare last night.  Nikki and her cagemate Benji went to bed
around 8:00 last night (at least they went into their cage).  When we were
ready to go to bed ourselves we could hear someone making a bit of a racket
and looking in on the brood, noticed Nikki surfing under her bed and
mattress.  This is not unusual but when she stuck her head out, I noticed
that the part around the eyes that is usually pink, was red, her nose was
red, the inside of her ears were red and her chin was red.  Something was
wrong and I took her out.  I checked the pads of her feet and they were red,
her tail was bottle brushed and she was hyper.  She would not hear of being
held and when I put her down she seemed somewhat frantic and began rubbing
herself all over on the carpet.  We found this oversized horse fly type bug
(horsefly wings, grasshopper type back legs, long feelers) near their cage.
We surmised that she was bitten by this bug and had a reaction to it.
 
At this time of night nothing would be open, the vets at the emergency
clinic were not ferret knowledgeable, it was one of the iciest (sp) nights
of the winter and it would take us 10 - 15 minutes to get there on a good
day (plus it cost $67.00 just to walk in the door for an emergency although
that is irrelevant if it would save her life).  Her breathing was fine
although at one point we heard some weird breathing or choking that caught
our attention.  Having 9 ferrets though, it was difficult to pinpoint who
was doing it before it stopped.  Interestingly too, her vulva was swelling
up some.  This may not be related to the bite because that may be her
adrenal acting up again but today it was almost back to normal.  What do we
do?  Before we could fully decide, she was already beginning to settle down
a bit.  In less than 10 minutes all of her skin was back to her normal color
and she wasn't rubbing herself nearly as much.  This don't hold me ferret
became putty in my hands.  She was so exhausted from her ordeal (we don't
know how long this was going on before we noticed what was happening) that
she just laid in my arms and was content to let me love on her.  We were
fortunate this time.  We could easily have lost her.
 
What was this bug anyway.  We have seen a few of them now since we moved in
in August and always in the ferrets room.  We can't figure out where they
are coming from.  Is there a non-toxic to fuzzy bug spray that we can use in
their room?  What else can we do to try and prevent this from happening
again?  The first time we saw one we commented on the fact that we hoped
that no-one would get bitten by one of these monster bugs, or any other bug
for that matter.  We thought that perhaps they could come in the wood pelets
somehow (we are groping here) but we have never had this problem until we
moved in here.  What can you do for a fuzzy who has been bitten?  Is taking
them to the vet the only thing that can be done?  Any comments would be
welcome.  Bugs really make us nervous.
 
Thanks again for all of your help.  I look forward to hearing from some of
you again.
 
Tryntje and Cam, Tawny (dog), and the fuzzy crew, Buddy, Josie, Nikki,
Benji, Scooter, Jasper, Sadie, BJ and Mookie
[Posted in FML issue 2178]