Hello everyone, This is my first post although I have been reading the
FHL for a few months.  We have two ferrets Slinky who will be 3yrs old
in August and Chomper who will be 3yrs old next January.  A few days ago
someone posted about their fuzzy having a cough and their vet was not able
to find a cause for it.  We had a simular problem with Chomper in the fall
and did all the usual test and could find nothing out of the ordnary except
with the CBC wich suggested a slight infection.  Our vet put him on some
meds for the infection but they did`nt help with the cough and the vary
labored breathing.  He asked us if he could put Chomper out to examine his
upper airway and we agreed.  What he found was a HUGE HAIR MASS it was
unreal how big this thing was, it was 1/4 inch wide and about 1 1/4 inch
long and it was mostly made up of what looked like Slinkys guard hair
intwined with the short white undercoat hair.  He found this behind the
soft palate and using the smallest tools he had he pulled what he could and
then flushed the rest, Chomp was sent home with some meds for an infection
caused by ancentobactor [ I`am not sure thats spelled right] and he`s back
to his old self again.
 
We`ve found an easy way to give our fuzzys their meds when its in pill
form, we dissolve it with water in a syringe and smeare some ferretive on
to our palm, as they lick up the ferritive we slowly add the meds untill
they have taken it all.  I hope this helps someone because I have not seen
this problem posted before.  If there is any information that I can get
from my vet about this soft palate and hair thing lrt me know because
I`am new at this E-mail and keyboard stuff.  This is a great list and a
wonderfull bunch people and I love to read the post and have learned a
lot from it.
 
Billl F
slinkley
Chomper
[Posted in FML issue 2600]