Surgery is hard on a body, whether it is human or ferret or any other
animal. In addition to the obvious adverse affects such as bleeding,
infection, and tearing of tissue at the surgical site, there are also
the more subtle affects such as quality of life issues (pain and
psychological stress). An older ferret or one who has coinciding
health issues may be further compromised.

I've had a couple of bad experiences that have me considering surgery
only as a last resort. My ferret Moey was around 4 years old when he
had both adrenals removed, and developed Addisons. He initially
tolerated the surgery and medications well, but he did not do well with
the recovery cage and the no-climbing rule. He was always a very active
free roam ferret and shutting him in a little cage for the first 10
days following surgery drove him absolutely nuts. A month later, he
crashed with Addisons. A month after that, I found him rolling around
on the floor, writhing in pain. Emergency exploritory surgery found an
ulceration leading from his stomach into his abdominal cavity. He had
to be put down then and there. The physical and psychological stress
along with the medications were just too much for him. Afterward, I
felt terrible for all the pain and suffering I'd put him through, not
to mention my grief and loss of my dearly loved little buddy. What I've
learned.... surgery is hard on a body. Use only as a last resort. And
if you have free roamers undergoing surgery, consider using bigger
playpen-like recovery rooms.

I had another ferret, Frank, who had surgery for insulinomas. I did not
understand the dosage of prednisone. It was something like 0.10 cc and
I was mistakenly giving 0.01 cc, a fraction of what he was supposed to
get!! That experience taught me to always double check and triple check
dosages. Have the vet show you on a syringe the correct dose and then
give a return demostration to make sure the correct dose is understood.

I currently have a blind ferret, Moose, who is slowly growing a
chordoma at the base of his tail. He was a rescue ferret and I've had
him for over 4 years so there is no telling his exact age. Sometimes he
has weakness in his back legs and skids in his poop. I'm afraid that
having his tail amputated will set him up for pain and infection each
time he goes to the bathroom. I'm just really torn on whether to put
him through the trauma and pain of surgery, and the possible
complications of the surgery, not to mention the expense. Or should I
just hold out and hope that he will outlive the chordoma? He does not
appear to have any pain from it now. Any thoughts?

And lastly, though not a surgical issue, is my question of
vaccinations. I know there is a study being done to determine how often
a ferret should have the distemper vaccine (a couple of my ferrets took
part in that study) but what I would like to know is what percentage of
unvaccinated ferrets contract distemper compared to what percentage of
ferrets that ARE vaccinated have deadly reactions to those vaccines. It
is said distemper is a terrible death but allergic reactions are surely
not a good way to go either. And, if the incidence of reactions is
higher than the incidence of distemper itself, why take the chance?
I've done a little searching but have not found any actual numbers.

My only intentions here are to share info and learn myself.

Sincerely,

Bern Lover of ferrets

[Posted in FML 6869]