I'm an exsubscriber who read this forum for two years or so before
regrettfully signing off due to a lack of time; I figure that I had learned
enough that my time was better spent playing with my ferrets than reading.
Now I'm desperately in need of advice for my poor sick ferret.
 
I am working with a vet, but I live in CA, so while she is caring and seems
competent, she hasn't had much experience with ferrets.  Maybe someone can
help us.  Sprocket is almost three years old and has always been on the
small and skinny side but energetic and with normal stools.  She's my first
ferret, I wanted to wait until they were legalized here, but after waiting
7 years I had to have her.  Saturday before last I took her out to play and
noticed that she'd lost more weight and had some diarrhea - she'd had a
food change from TF to Iams when we ran out, but she has tried a variety of
foods before with no ill effect.  I isolated her from her cagemate (who
still seems healthy) and when she seemed just too skinny and dehydrated,
started force feeding her baby food and fluids (and Pepto and Pedialyte,
thank you FML).  Monday she seemed to have slightly better stool though
still definitely runny, so when we couldn't locate a vet who would take her
that day (our usual had broken his leg and was out) we didn't worry too
much.  Tuesday she was worse, and Wednesday morning she entered a new vet
hospital.  They did blood work, and checked her stool, and came up with
nothing - no anemia, slightly low white cell count.  They put her on an IV
and antibiotics and she seemed a little better so I took her home Friday
evening and gave her antibiotic shots and subcutaneous fluids twice a day
and fed her a/d diet.  Sunday she wasn't better, so Monday back in the vets
and switched to .5 ccPepto, .5 cc flagyl, and .2cc clavamox, plus subq's,
twice a day - I brought her home tuesday evening and Wednesday evening, she
started to dry heave and her rectum looked like it might be prolapsing (to
my untrained eye, it's big and red and swollen out).  The vet said we could
do an exploratory surgery Thurseday, but it's not likely she'll live.  We
still don't know what's wrong.  She has a big oaf of a cagemate to get a
transfusion from, but she's sooo skinny and wasted.  She never actually
threw up and seemed perkier, so we decided to hold off on surgery, since
she's so skinny and weak the vet said it might kill her.  Now it's
Thurseday and she doesn't seem really better or worse - I've gotten a lot
of food and fluids into her today, but the diarrhea is still watery and
grainy, and she's weak...mostly sleeping.
 
I work for a conservation corps, so I don't earn much - already this has
taken almost my entire last months wages, but I will pay for surgery if it
seems like it will save her - basically, I'm saying that cost is an issue,
but she's very important to me, and a few months of debt is more than worth
her health and comfort.  I'm just afraid that I'm consigning her last
moments to be pain and confusion of surgery....but if it's her only chance,
I guess that we have to take it.  What else - she hasn't had any contact
with new ferrets (neither have the humans of the house) in more than a
year, she only weighs a bit more than a pound and a half in good health,
the worst she's gotten to in this has been ..8, but we got her back up to
1.1 or so.  Do you know what this might be or how to treat it?
[Posted in FML issue 2663]