Today my itty bitty girl added a few more grey hairs to my young head.
Slinky is about 4 years old and 1.5 lbs of pure ALPHA. My friend
brought her ferret over tonight and Slinky spent about 3 hours running
around, roughing her up, and snoozing in her blanket. I scooped her and
3 of my others up and was looking for a MIA weasel when Slinky made a
funny noise like a sneeze. She had just been running around and digging
at my door like a lil brat moments before I picked her up so I didn't
think much of it until I glanced down and saw my arm covered in saliva.
I put everyone but her down and ran to the bright light. It the minute
or so I had her in my arms she became a limp, glassy eyed mess that was
drooling all over me. I flew downstairs and handed her to my mum while
getting my BG meter (My big boy has insulinoma so I keep one handy).
Turns out there's a big hole in the bag and the strips were missing.
Cue panic attack 2 in one minute. I grabbed a jar of turkey baby food
and my big syringe and got about 1/2 a tsp of straight baby food in her
(She didn't fight it) before she refused and began to squirm around. I
put her down and gave her a bit of vivify which she took gladly. She
was moving around A LOT more and had a drink while I used the rest of
the baby food and whipped up a batch of their soup. I got at least 2
tsp of that into her before I felt comfortable that she was back with
us completely. She had an itchy fit and then curled up in a hammock
with her big Roo as a blanket. She's had limp, glassy eyed attacks
before but NEVER has so drooled, much less all over like this. The
first time I rushed her to the 24 hour vet but she was perfectly fine
by the time we got there because I gave her chicken baby food. The
literally did nothing but take our money, not even another bg test.
She's had her bg tested multiple times and every time it's been
perfect. My Roo's BG has been down in the 50's before and was low
before the pred really began to work. That's what is confusing me about
this. Roo has never had an attack (Knock on wood!!!), but will get
pokey when his BG is low which is what tipped me off in the first
place. I had only had him about 3 months before he was diagnosed and he
and Slinky were my first ferrets. I just knew there was something wrong
with how pokey he was. Slinky is fine for a few months and suddenly out
of no where one of these attacks will hit. The ferret cages are in our
kitchen so we see them constantly which is how I caught the second
attack. I'm just at a loss as this is nothing like Roo's, but her
symptoms are like the attacks I read about. I've talked to my vet a
few times, but we didn't put her on pred because her bg has been fine
every time she's gone in. She had a full blood panel run last time this
happened and everything came back normal. OH! About two months ago she
began losing all the hair on her tail and she's due to get a Des
implant VERY soon, within the next couple weeks but I will bump the
appointment up because of this. Could Adrenal Disease be playing a hand
in this, possibly? I'm hoping to get some input from people who have
had similar experiences so I can throw ideas at my vet. He's very good
and I trust him, I just want to make sure all my bases are covered, you
know? Slinky is our little spoiled princess and she's so tiny... To see
her just lying in my hands with drool dripping everywhere... I'm just
grateful I'm usually able to keep myself together and do what I need to
in situations like this.

I hope everyone else is doing well and send warm wishes to you all. <3
I am truely blessed to have found myself in the ferret community. I
have never known of such unity and encouragment among a group of such
varied people before. I have met so many amazing people in the short
year since I adopted my first pair- it's like I've found a whole family
connected by ferretone rather than blood.

Much Love,
Lindsay, Roo, Slinky, Marley, Zoey, Capone, and Bugsy

-Forever one ferret away from crazy ferret lady-

[Posted in FML 6987]