Saturday was a very scary day.  In the morning I walked into the
office/ferret room to let the ferrets out of their cage.  Two immediately
ran out, as usual, but Lexie stayed sleeping in her hammock.  She's is more
mellow and slower than the other two usually so I didn't panic until I
really looked at her.  She was flatter than usual, limp, had a rapid
heartbeat and would occasionally gasp in a breath of air with her nostrils
flare and her front teeth bared.
 
I immediately called the vet and said I had an emergency and needed to bring
my ferret it now.  The vet tech or receptionist I spoke to handled
everything so well, calming me down and asking me the necessary questions.
Then off we went to the hospital about 20-30 minutes away with Lexie on a
towel in my lap the whole time and the empty carrier on the passenger seat.
Before I left I had to call my husband at work because I blanked out on how
to get to the vet!
 
They saw her immediately and gave her fluids and glucose and steroids.  I
saw her about an hour and a half later after talking to the vet and she
looked a lot better.  She was raising her head and turning around, no more
rapid heart rate and gasps.  The vet said her situation was quite critical
and honestly told me she might not make it through the weekend.  But I was
hopeful when I saw her improvement after such a short time.  And the vet
called last night to say she was still improving.  They took blood and found
her glucose was 52 instead of 60 or more but all the results won't be back
until Monday.  Could be insulinoma.  At least that's treatable.
 
Lexie will be 7 years old in September and I really hope she pulls through
this.  She's such a sweet little girl.  Much calmer than your average ferret
which is nice because she'll cuddle with you.
 
Ellen [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1981]