Does anyone know why our ferret would start screaming (the kind of scream
you'd only hear when they are terrified or when they have been stepped on)
for no apparent reason.
 
Yesterday morning at around 7:15 am, when I went to get our 5 yr old female
ferret Jasmine out of the cage( which she shares with our 4 yr old neutered
male albino rescue ferret Joe Nameless) for her morning feeding, Joe came
barreling out -pretty normal behavior for him, as soon as I opened the cage
door. I put him back and took Jas out for her daily mush, which took only
about 10 minutes.
 
When I went to put her back, Joe was curled up sleeping on a blanket. As I
reached in with Jas, her tail lightly brushed Joe, upon which Joe woke ,
SCREAMED, screamed, screamed and screamed again as he ran into his enclosed
sleeping box.  This was very unnerving, since they never fight, get along
well together and have been cage mates for about 4 years.  After trying to
reassure him and calm him down, I (and by this time, my wife, Kathy) got him
out of his box and held him wrapped up in his blanket on my lap.  After
about 5 minutes I slowly moved him in his blanket, whereupon he SCREAMED
again repeatedly, thrashed and bit me hard (4 holes in the hand to prove it).
 
Kathy quickly called our vet and we were there by 9 am.  The vet saw no
obvious signs of anything abnormal and by this time Joe was looking perky
and was allowing himself to be touched in a normal manner.  No temp., no
tenderness on palpation, stool looked normal, no inflammation of eyes, ears
or gums and his heart rate and breathing were normal.  Our vet thought maybe
a low blood glucose test and observation were worth a try, so she ran a
glucose test, 5 1/2 hrs after pulling out his food.  That test read 70.
However, he did scream again at the clinic when one of the technicians
accidentally bumped his cage.
 
Theer is some previous history which might have some bearing, but I'm not
sure.  Back on November 25, 1997, Kathy took Joe and one of our other
ferrets, Binky in for their rabies shots (Imrab for ferrets) at which time,
some 10 minutes after the shot was administered.  Joe had a severe
anaphylactic shock reaction.  He was vomiting and gagging, had loud stomach
noises, passed a considerable amount of blood and then, after a while,
became totally limp.  The vet administered the following drugs and
treatment: Prednisolone, Epinephrine, Diphenhydramine, Lasix, oxygen and 20
cc of Ringers solution SQ.
 
Two hours later and, we thought, back to normal.  NOTE: Joe had had 2
previous rabies shots and had showed no reactions.
 
Could nerve damage have occurred as a result of this reaction or treatments?
Then, back in January, '98, Kathy took him in again because he looked a
little paler than normal and he seemed a little more nervous and his legs
were really shaking (as if he was cold) when he was being held.  Nothing was
found by the vet at that time.
 
These past few days, Kathy noticed he has a slight head tilt, but no
tenderness to his head when touched or to his ears during cleaning.  He also
seemed to be in a nervous state.  That "let me out!" attitude and pacing -
running - in his cage and eating frantically when being fed.He also scraped
and bruised two toes on each back foot somehow in his cage.  He might have
caught them in an old sleeping box made of plastic which was cracked, which
has since been removed.  Both feetare almost completely healed, with no
residual swelling, after treating 2xs daily with a topical ointment that we
have used before to treat assorted ferret injuries or sores.
 
His nose is still pale and after the screaming yesterday seemed paler than
normal, b ut his gums and foot pads look a nice pink shade.  We have had
many ferrets over the past 18 years (and even got Joe and our 5 others
through the Green Virus just this past summer).
 
But this episode withJoe puzzles and worries us, the vet and our other
ferret friends.  Presently we have him on Prednisolone 0.25 mls - 2xs daily
and we are spoonfeeding him 3xs daily.  We would appreciate any suggestions
as to what to do, what to test for, etc., or if you have encountered such
strange behaviour before.  Please let me know as soon as possible.
 
Thank you!
Frustrated as to what to do for our "Frantic Fuzzy Joe"
 
Mike and Kathy Smith, Binky, Boomer, Jasmine and Joe Nameless (who was
caught in a live trap and brought to us with 20+ deer ticks on his face)
[Posted in FML issue 2229]