> know of a woman that has recently had a ferret put down.  He was coughing
>hoarsely.  He was put on all sorts of antibiotics as they were sure he
>had bacterial pneumonia.  They did an x-ray of his lungs.  They were
>hideous.  The vet commented that they looked like the lungs of a human
>with emphysema.
>
>His breathing became more laboured.  She tried all sorts of different
>things, but found the most humane thing to do was to put him down.  He was
>three years old.  She had a full PM done on him.  Upon opening the lungs,
>the vet said the ferret had emphysema.  The owner is a smoker.  Has
>anybody else seen this?
 
I have not yet seen this in ferrets, but I have seen it in both dogs and
cats.  I also had a dog patient with primary lung cancer (relatively
uncommon in dogs).  His owners were heavy smokers.  It makes sense to me
that it could happen in ferrets as well.
 
Dr. Ruth
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Save lives - spay or neuter your pet.
[Posted in FML issue 3680]