Hello everyone.
 
I'm posting this in behalf of someone who doesn't have access to the FML.
I really appreciate your help and prompt response.
 
- Joe
 
"I have an adult male ferret (exact age and medical history are not known,
we believe he is around 5 years old) .  2 days ago he started getting
lethargic.  He spends most of the day just laying around and he gets up
just to go to the bathroom.  He doesn't want to eat/drink anything.
We've been feeding him pureed chicken and some pedialyte.  He's lost a
lot of weight.  Every time we give him water (or any other fluid) his
heart rate increases and he seems to get stressed.  His respiration seems
laborious (his belly moves a lot when he is breathing).
 
We've taken him to several vets, but the problem is that there are no
ferret-knowledgeable ferrets where I live and this happened during the
weekend.  He will have an X-ray and blood drawn later today by another
vet who supposedly knows a little more about ferrets (I went from vet to
vet because every vet recommended me someone different and then that
person would recommend somebody else and so on and so forth).  One of the
vets who saw him said that it could be a gastric infection because his
intestines seemed distended.  He is currently on antibiotic but it doesn't
seem to help.  I don't think this is really the problem.  His stools are
normal (they are smaller and dryer because he is eating/drinking less) but
the color and consistency are normal.  Should I try giving him a laxative
in the meantime?"
 
"I'd appreciate any help you can give me.  Could you reply to this email
address (I don't use computers that much)?.  Thank you.
 
Sincerely, Patty"
[Posted in FML issue 3810]