Hi Everybody -
 
We had quite an exciting night on Wednesday.  We'd been out late after
work shopping, so I got home at 7 and went to let the ferrets out.  (We
moved back from free roam all day to just when we are home since litter
habits had drastically deteriorated.) My smallest female, Sonnet, wouldn't
come out.  When I reached in to wake her, I saw her ear was completely
crusted over.  She was unable to walk much at all, her balance was far
gone.  I made her a meal of baby food, and she used the litterbox, then
we went off to the emergency vet.  Two and a half anxious hours later, we
determined that she had an ear infection and ear mites.  We'd never had a
problem with ear mites before - never even a suggestion that the group had
them.  I've never been so happy to hear the words 'vicious infection'
before.
 
Sonnet had been a little lethargic for a day or two, just not showing up
as often, but she doesn't like to play so much with the others, so I
hadn't given it a lot of thought.  My husband said she'd looked fine the
night before when we put her to bed, so it pretty much exploded overnight.
I thought I might be loosing her.  She's now eating 3-4 meals of baby food
a day (she's eating eagerly, but I don't think she likes walking to the
food bowl, so I'm just being careful), and is on ear mite medication and
antibiotics.  She hates them both, and is starting to put up more of a
fight (I'm still at the stage where I think this is a good thing.)  It's
so pathetic to see her staggering around like a drunk.  She falls whenever
she tries to get into the litterbox, but there's no way she'd not go in
it.  The vet says she'll get used to walking, even if one inner ear has
been destroyed, although it's not yet clear if it has or not.
 
Has anyone experienced a serious ear infection like this - I searched the
archives and saw only one reference to one years ago.  I'd have thought
after reading the FML for so long that nothing new would hit me.  If
anyone knows of a ferret who has recovered from severe inner ear infection
and how their walking was affected, I'd appreciate knowing what to expect.
 
Anyhow, I'm pretty confident she'll be fine.  She's sleeping all the time,
except when I wake her up to eat, but she's not worsening, and she is
eating and drinking well.  It was a very scary night though.
 
Mornings are very long now, treating 6 ferrets, one cat and two dogs for
ear mites.  So much for getting up 20 minutes before I walk out the door.
Practice for having children I suppose.
 
Best wishes to all -
 
Wendy and the six crayfish dancers (one of whom is on sick leave)
 
PS - I have one dog who doesn't like Sonnet - Sonnet used to bite her nose
and now always gets a growl when she gets too close (although she would
never ever bite or hurt her).  Well last night, Sonnet was staggering
around looking for somewhere to sleep and she ran into this dog, who must
have realized she was sick because she allowed Sonnet to walk right up to
her and sniff and rest.
[Posted in FML issue 3113]