For those of you wandering, we took Biff and Beige to the vet Tuesday, and
like I thought, he doesn't know what is wrong with Biff.  He looked at his
throat, to see if maybe he had a sore throat, that maybe that is why he
slobbered while eating.  He said it looks red, but when he looked at
Beige's, he said that maybe they are suppose to be that color, since Beige's
was the same color.  He guesses that the wheezing is from congestion, if he
is congested.  He gave us amoxicillin, only thing he can think of doing at
the time.  Biff didn't get his shot then, the vet said that it would be best
to figure out what is wrong before giving him shots.  Sounds smart to Mama
and me.  The crack on Beige's head he said feels like it was a head injury
healed wrong, which probably explains why he is scared of being held.  He
practically runs out of our arms to get into the cage when he sees the door.
We are suppose to take Biff down Friday or Monday, so he can look at him and
try something else if the amoxicillin didn't work.
 
We noticed on the other hand that Biff only slobbers when eating, he eats A
LOT.  To explain . . . we use a coffee scooper to give the ferrets their
food, and when Mama feeds them their hot meal at night, she gives them about
a half a scoop a piece.  She puts it in those double food bowls for cats, so
we have four of those and one metal one.  She lays them out on the floor and
they line up and eat.  My father says it looks like a herd of cattle eating,
and maybe it does, but cows aren't as much fun to watch as ferrets.  Anyhow,
others will mainly drink the juice and some of the food, and then go play,
coming back every now and then for a little nibble.  Biff on the other hand,
will clean out about five of them , which equals out to .  .  .oh say, 8
teaspoons of food, or more every night, not counting the dry food he eats
while in the cage.  So we can clearly say he ain't starving, and apparently
his throat don't hurt, some have mentioned his gums, but he doesn't chew on
anything, and he shows no sign of sore gums (redness around the teeth,
bleeding, snarling his lip up, nothing), so we assumed that that isn't it.
 
Then Mama mentioned "he acts like he has asthma." "ASTHMA!" I said, "ferrets
don't get asthma. . .do they?" She said "I don't know, but think about it
Toni, he only wheezes when he is sleeping in any position other than on his
stomach." "True" I said.  "He wheezes when he gets happy or excited." "True"
I said.  "He wheezes when he is being picked up, taking in a deep breath
because his head is hanging over." "True" I said.  "He doesn't wheeze when
he's awake except when excited, like I already said, and if he is sick with
a cold, shouldn't he wheeze all the time from the congestion, not just under
certain circumstances?" "Sounds reasonable to me," I said.  "Why don't you
go ask the people on the internet and see if they have heard of ferrets
getting asthma, and if they have, what signs do we look for to see if he
does have it." So, do they get asthma, and what should we, or the vet, look
for to see if he does have it?  He doesn't act sick, as a matter of fact, he
attacked Blanco tonight, and they mocked fight for a good 15 minutes before
I had to separate them for Blanco was getting to rough with him ( him being
new and all, he gets babied a couple more weeks before we allow them to play
it out to the finish).  As a matter of fact, thinking about it, he tired out
and laid down a couple of times tonight, then climbed into the cage and fell
asleep.  We found him by following the wheezing.  Mama said, "another thing
Toni, didn't somebody write you and say that their ferret sneezed a lot when
he/she was sick?" "Yes" I said.  Biff hasn't sneezed since we have had him.
And it has been four days now.  He isn't getting any worse, or better,
except putting weight on.  He looks healthier every day, just doesn't sound
like it.
 
Beige is doing fine too.  He still throws out all fours, but when we start
to talk to him, he relaxes and lets go of us, skin and shirt, and will lay
on our arm.  He is still a little cautious about us though, like we will do
something to hurt him.  He plays with ferrets some, but he is mainly a
loner, sticking by Biff when feeling uncomfortable.  It broke Mama's heart
Monday when a caged we built for a friend was getting the finishing touches,
and we let the ferrets out so that if they wanted, they could go in and test
it, see if it is easy to climb the ladders, etc.  Beige climbed in lied down
on the wire bottom, and laid there.  He was taken out so that Mama could put
carpet in the bottom, and when he climbed back in there, he sniffed around,
and then left.  Mama said, he acted like the wire floor cage is the cage he
is suppose to be in.  You would think he would like a carpet cage better,
feeling better on the feet and all.  Mama said when he laid in there without
the carpet, he looked at her and seem to say, this is the kind of cage I am
suppose to be in, a cold metal cage, with nothing in it.  She was happy to
see him in the ferret bed this morning.  :)
 
Mama wants me to also mention that Bandit, our first one, got sick tonight
and she don't know why.  It happened around 1:00am Wednesday night.  She
heard him vomiting and hollered for me.  I held him and she cleaned it up.
But soon after words, he threw up some more, not flame, but food from two
hours earlier.  His stomach was making a terrible grumbling noise and I
thought he was using the bathroom on my leg, but it was his stomach grinding
and rumbling.  I told Mama to take him to the toilet and hold him over it,
and she did and she said he did a lot more.  Now he is just laying in her
arms, not moving.  He looks droopy, he had a sneezing fit soon after, and
Mama said he is just all limp.  Bandit doesn't want to be held that much any
more since we got all the others, so when he just laid in her arms, she got
worried.  She then laid him on my bed.  And instead of jumping up and
sniffing everywhere, trying to jump off, he just laid there, moving when
Mama tried to touch him.  He is in there now in Mama'a lap while I type
this.  Our vet opens at 9 in the morning, but since his dad is in the
hospital, he doesn't come in till 11 for now.  I understand that, but
until then, we don't know what to do.
 
Everything was so perfect this time last week.  We had 7 healthy ferrets, no
worries, and now we have one scared one, one with an unidentified illness,
and now our Bandit getting sick.  Not having a vet here that knows that much
doesn't ease the pain either.  Plus the crap we have to put up with my
father and other family about the stereotype of ferrets. . .  that is
another subject that I will avoid at the time.  It seems that we are so
helpless.  Like we shouldn't have bought Biff and Beige, so that someone who
can care for them better, knowing more of what to do, can have them.  We
only bought them because of the fear of the two being raised together, and
then being torn apart because our only pet store in town was more interested
in sheer profit than value, but that is a different subject.
 
---Toni & Mama
---Bandit, Brey, Belle, Brock, Blackee, Blanco, Ba-leigh, Beige & Biff
---Picayune, Mississippi
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[Posted in FML issue 1831]