Dear Everyone,
 
While I was on my honeymoon about a week ago, one of my fuzz balls died.
Let me start from the beginning.  About a week before my wedding, I was in
the pet store (Pet Palace at Marsh and Trinity Mills in Dallas, Texas) to
get some food and I happened to look over at the ferret cage.  Of course,
there was one of the cutest little ones I had ever seen.  I looked in the
cage to make sure that there was no green or strange poop and everything
looked normal.  I held the 6 week old ferret and fell in love.  He was so
cute.  Anyway, I took him home with me and introduced him to the other guys
(3 others: 1 4yr old female named Fee, 1 3yr old male named Mr. Woo, and 1
3yr old male named Dharma) and they got along very well.
 
Then, I went on my honeymoon and I had someone watching the babes that I
felt would be able to handle any emergencies should they arise.  Well, Fee
started having strange poop and the ferretsitter called and made an
appointment with the vet.  I do not know how long the strange poop had been
going on but, it was normal before I left for my honeymoon.  Fee died 30
minutes before her vet appointment.  She was very lethargic by that time
and she was having uncontrollable bowel movements.
 
The ferretsitter did not call me and let me know that she was sick or that
she had died.  She did not want me to be upset on my honeymoon.  On the
way home from the airport, I was told about Fee.  I, of course, completely
freaked out and the minute I got home I grabbed the remaining three: Woo,
Dharma, and Willy and we went to the vet.
 
When I got the the vet, I noticed that Woo did not seem to be himself and
that Willy was beating up on him.  So, I took him out of the carrier and he
had bite marks all over his body from Willy.  He had also lost a LOT of
weight.  The vet saw the ferrets and I mentioned ECE.  He saif "Oh no I
don't think that is what this is..." Ok, so he looked at the guys and Willy
and Dharma were fine.  He prescribed Pepto Bismol, flagyl, and amocillin
for Woo.  He also told me to seperate the ferrets.
 
I seperated them and I put Woo in an aquarium that had a wire cover like
you use for lizards.  (This was what the vet said that I should get to put
him in.)  On the second night of being in there, Woo decided to leave and
he broke out of the wire screen while I was asleep.  In the process of the
jail brake, he got a bloody nose.  I found him the next morning and his
little nose was bleeding and I tried to stop the bleeding for an hour.  It
would not stop, so I took him to the Emergency Animal Clinic.  They tried
to stop the bleeding and it would not stop.  They then took a blood sample
and found that his blood would clot.  They said that it would stop on its
own and they gave him fluids under his skin.
 
An hour after we left the emergency room, Woo was so tired and seemed so
weak.  I called the vet the next day and told him and he told me to bring
Woo in.  Woo was there for 3 days.  I went to see him last Tuesday and he
seemed about the same as before.  The next morning I called to check on him
and they told me that he had died in the middle of the night.
 
Once again, I took Dharma in to the vet.  (By this time, I had taken Willy
back to the pet store because he was chewing on Dharma all the time and I
just did not know what to do with him.)  I told the vet once again that I
thought that Dharma had ECE and an adrenal tumor.  At this time I had begun
to notice some hair loss on Dharmy.  Anyway, the vet said that although
Dharma had hair loss on his shoulders and at the base of his tail he said
he thought that this was from stress because he did not have hair loss on
his flanks or on his sides.  He took a stool sample from Dharma though just
to make sure that he was ok.  The vet said that it would take a week to get
the results in.
 
I called the vet today and he told me he had gotten the samples from Woo
and Dharma back and that they did not have camphyllobacter (sp?).  I asked
him if they may have had helicobacter and he said that there was no way to
test for that.  I told him that I noticed that last night, Dharma had a
funky poop that was the consistency of hair gel and was mainly green and
had some darker green flecks.  He then told me that I should change Dharma
from IAMS kitten food to Marshall Farms Food or Ferret GOLD!  I said that I
thought that IAMS was a good foof for ferrets and he said that it is for
cats not for a ferret.  He did mention Totally Ferret, but I said I did not
know where I could get it on short notice.
 
Anyway, I then called Tricia at the shelter in Weatherford and she of
course confirmed that I was not insane about any of my concerns about ECE
or adrenal tumor and that the food I was feeding him was a good food.
 
The reason I am writing this is to let all of you fellow ferret owners in
Dallas know that you should NOT take your ferret to Dr. Greenburg at
Summertree Animal & Bird Clinic on Inwood.  He definitely not knowledgeable
about ferrets.  I am taking Dharma to Dr. Roger Kendrick tomorrow and I
understand from Mia and Tricia that he is a good doc for the kid.  Please
everyone, learn from my mistake and don't assume that if someone has a
degree and says that they know about ferrets and that they are a member of
the Ferret Lovers' Club, that means that they are qualified to care for
your ferret.
 
Thanks,
Stella Macaulay
[Posted in FML issue 2490]