Well, Sammy just about crossed the bridge again today. With lots of
pleading, hugs, and love he has decided to stay a while longer. Please
keep in mind that he went from healthy, happy, and dooking to being in
severe trouble all within 12 hours. That is why it is SO very important to
always watch your ferrets.
At 7:30 this morning I found Sammy laying on the floor. When I looked over
the bed at him he got up, staggered, and then fell. I immediately jumped
out of bed and picked him up. He was cool to the touch. He became
completely lethargic. He couldn't even hold up his head. I grabbed some
honey and rubbed on his gums and he started gagging and dry heaving so I
figured that it wasn't a Insulinoma problem. I then tried to get some
Kaopectate down him to help coat the tummy and he just gagged on it and spit
it out. I then opened a new bottle of Pedialyte and gave him some of that.
Once again he wouldn't swallow anything. He also felt very dehydrated. I
then grabbed the heating pad and plugged it in, put a real light blanket
over it, and placed Sammy on it. I then grabbed Buddy and Doris and placed
them down by him. They immediate went over to Sammy, licked his ear, and
then both of them flopped down right on top Sammy. I believe that they
could tell that he was sick and needed their body heat to help warm him.
The reason I say this is because the way the acted wasn't normal. It was
like they looked at me and said, "Dad, Sammy is sick." (A person that has
not been around ferrets very long might scoff at this but though of us that
have been around ferrets a while know that ferrets have incredibly
informative facial expressions.) Then, like I said, they went over and
"covered" Sammy with their little bodies. I then placed another light
blanket over the pile to help keep the heat in as I could tell that Sammy's
body temperature was way below normal.
Then I grabbed my laptop and pulled up the STAR (THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
THANK YOU AGAIN!) ferret contact / vet / shelter list and checked for the
closest vet. To my dismay there were no close vets listed. I knew of a
excellent clinic in Lincoln, NE that had helped Sammy before so I decided
to try to get him there. The problem was that Lincoln was over seven hours
away. I didn't think he had that long. I knew that he needed fluids
immediately. So I took off running for Des Moines, IA which was only 2
hours way. (Please note: I drive a company owned truck that is governed at
65 mph so I didn't speed, only because I couldn't. <grin>)
I got about 30 miles from Des Moines and I had a feeling that I should take
the next exit and look for a vet in this little town. So I pulled off the
interstate and found a vet right there! When I stopped and picked up Sammy
and noticed that he was a lot warmer. I wrapped him up in a blanket and
went in. The vet knew the basics about ferrets but he didn't know a lot
about the ferret type diseases. He was open to any info I could give him
though. He took Sammy's temp and it was just under 100 degrees (which is
low for those that don't know). He gave Sammy an injection of 20 ccs of
warmed Ringers (hydration fluid) and then he gave Sammy a shot of Centrine
(This was to help stop the vomiting and heaving). He gave me a bottle of
Clavamox and told me to try to get some down him in about a half hour after
the shot took effect. I thanked him and left with a promise to e-mail him
all the ferret FAQ's. He didn't have access to e-mail but his assistant
did through the college she was attending.
I then took off for Lincoln. Sammy was still extremely lethargic. He was
basically a limp rag. I placed him back on the warm bed I had set up for
him and Buddy and Doris came over and, once again, joined him. I got into
Des Moines and pulled into a truck stop to fuel the truck. At that time I
tried to get him to take some Clavamox, Pedialyte, or anything and he would
just gag and spit it out. No matter what I did I couldn't get him to
swallow much of anything. I then called Dayna Frazier on the phone just to
get a second opinion on what to do. We decided that since he was just
hydrated he should be fine for a few hours so I took off for Lincoln, NE.
(Little did I know but Dayna then sent out a bunch of messages to people
asking them to say a little prayer for Sammy and send some good thoughts his
way.) Within the next two hours Sammy was swamped with prayers and good
thoughts coming at him all over the country and world for that matter. All
of this I didn't find out till later.
After about two more hours of driving Sammy finally poked his head out from
under the blanket. This gave me a little hope. I picked up the ever
present treat box and pulled out a cherio and placed it down by his nose.
For about 5 minutes he ignored it then he licked it once. Then about a
minute later he very slowly ate it! I was so happy I wanted to pull over
and do the "Toyoda jump" but I figured I better keep moving. I drove about
another 15 minutes and came to a rest area. I pulled into it and decided to
try to see if I could get some Pedialyte down him. To my complete joy he
took 23 ccs of it without a fight at all. I was so happy I decided to try
to get some a/d down him. To my amazement he took 28 ccs of it!!! I
stopped as soon as he started fighting it. I then put him in the litter
box as he was still have extreme difficulties in walking and to my horror
out came a ton of the blackest liquid I had ever seen. I just about quit
breathing. He appeared to be bleeding internally from something. I then
wrapped him up and took off again for Lincoln.
[Two posts combined. BIG]
We arrived about 2 hours later (I had called ahead so they were waiting for
me). Sammy took another 20 ccs of Pedialyte and then I put him in the
litter box. This time he only went a little but the diarrhea was only
slightly black this time. I scooped it up and took it in with me to have a
fecal smear done on it. When we went into the vet at Lincoln, NE it was
about 8 1/2 hours from when I originally found Sammy. He was a lot more
active. He was looking around and doing a lot better. The vet did a blood
sugar test on him and found it to be 105 which was great! At least it
didn't appear to have been Insulinoma related. He checked his temp and it
was now up to 100.7. The vet did a fecal smear and found nothing really out
of the ordinary. Sammy was also no longer dehydrated. His color looked
good and Sammy had started to get up and be the regular curious ferret. He
wanted to check out the big white cold thing what he was put in to see how
much he weighed. He wanted to see what was in those neat clear containers
that was on the desk. It was amazing to watch the transformation from a
deathly ill ferrets to a healthy, but exhausted, ferret. The vet couldn't
really find anything major wrong (other then a lot of bacteria in his
stools) but nothing that should have caused the crash. He gave me a
prescription of Amfloral to use instead of the Clavamox and he also gave me
a prescription of Carafate liquid. He said that Carafate would coat and
help protect any part of the GI tract where the walls had thinned or
ulcerated and give them time to heal.
Since that time Sammy has continued to improve. He still isn't eating on
his own but he readily takes the a/d that I hand feed him every two hours.
He is also taking the Pedialyte with no problems. He gets up and uses the
litter box all by himself. I think I am going to start giving him some
Kaopectate to help firm up the stools because they are extremely runny but
there is no longer any trace of blood at all! Yea!
I want to personally thank all of you that offered prayers for Sammy and
also for all of the positive thoughts that were send his way. I also want
to thank God for his help in both helping me and helping Sammy. I have no
doubt that the reason that Sammy recovered so fast was because of the
concentrated support that he got form so many people.
Thanks you all! You are awesome people!
Jason, Sammy, Doris, and Buddy
ICQ # 7528859 (Sammy's Dad)
ICQ - www.icq.com
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2303]
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