Hello to everyone.  I've been lurking for a while like a lot of people,
but now I feel the need to post and see what everyone thinks.
 
One of my ferrets has had a couple of bad episodes lately that I'm
wondering about.  Paco is a neutered male, 3 or 4 years old (according to
what I was told when I got him a couple of years ago).  He has no ear
tattoos, so I'm not sure where he originally came from.  He's always been
healthy, but over the summer he has gotten a lot thinner than he did before
in the summer.
 
About a week and a half ago I let him and his buddies out for a run and
after he had been out a half hour or so I noticed him digging at his mouth.
When I picked him up his saliva was kind of foamy and there was quite a bit
of it.  He would gag a little bit and dig at his mouth and he seemed to be
drooling a lot.  I thought he had a piece of food stuck in his mouth
because he had just been eating, but I couldn't find anything.  After a
little bit he stopped and headed for the food bowl where he proceeded to
eat a good amount and then he nested down and went to sleep like nothing
happened.
 
Since then he has been fine and I figured maybe I just missed whatever was
stuck in his mouth.  Then it happened again last night.  I couldn't find
anything this time either and when he gagged he made a little squawking
noise like he was in pain or something.  He felt really tense when I picked
him up and he was digging at his mouth so hard I was afraid he was going to
draw blood.  And then he got over it, ate a big meal, and went to sleep.
 
This morning he acts fine, but I have an appointment with the vet anyway on
Wednesday.  I'm wondering if insulinoma starts out this way, since he has
had all his shots and he is about the age when stuff like that starts
showing up.  Also, is there something I can do for him if it happens again
between now and Wednesday?
 
Thanks in advance for your help.  This list is a great source of
information and it's nice to know there are other people around as crazy
about their fuzzy babies as I am.
 
Dooks to all and prayers for all the sick and needy fuzzies.
 
Deborah P.
[Posted in FML issue 2804]