Hi everyone.  I need some advice.  Rusty ( a shelter ferret) is going
through a real hard time.  Let me start by telling you about him.
 
Rusty came to the shelter with his brother Ra.  They were found last July
(Canada day) tied together, starved to near death in a garbage bag.  An
elderly couple taking a walk, watching fireworks in a park noticed a bag
rustling in the distance.  The opened the bag and found the 2 boys near
dead.  Kindly, they cut the tether that bound the boys.  It was so tight,
they had gashes in their little bodies.  They rushed them to me and I got
my hands on them at midnight the same day.
 
Neither of them could walk or hold their heads up.  They had no muscle tone
at all.  I syringe fed them all night and gave them sub q fluids.  By the
morning, they looked a bit better, but it took me almost a week to get them
walking.
 
So, now it's almost a year later.  Ra just had adrenal surgery (thanks to
an anonymous donation) and Rusty was doing really well up until 2 months
ago.  He began pawing at his mouth, drooling and wouldn't eat.  I
originally suspected Insulinoma, but several fasting blood tests show
nothing.
 
We started him on Pred (to be safe) and still nothing.  x-rays show a great
tummy, heart, lungs and bone structure.
 
I then suspected an ulcer.  I started him on Pepto and Amoxi and for a few
days he did great.  then it was back to normal.  I called Dr. Williams who
suggested it may be a hair ball.  So, today Rusty went through exploratory
surgery.
 
Again, we are back to square 1.  We found nothing.  No insulinomas, no
adrenal disease no tumors, no hair ball.
 
Any ideas please?  He'd dying and I just don't know what to do to stop it.
 
Randy
 
The Ferret Aid Society "For the love of our fuzzy friends"
http://home.echo-on.net/~magick
 
http://www.igive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=1383&mid=43897
click here to raise funds for the ferrets,  just by using your mouse!
[Posted in FML issue 2646]