Hi everyone.  Hugs to all the sick (and healthy) fuzzies out there and to
those that have crossed the bridge.
 
I could use your help.  On Sept. 1st I was bitten by a ferret on my left
hand.  He was a recent shelter intake, and i was helping out with the
feeding/watering and such.  To keep this short I'll just say that this
ferret was latched onto my hand for about 5 full minutes.  No amount of
trying to pry his jaws open, scruffing him, or anything would work.  I
finally had to resort to almost drowning him in a pan of water to get him
to release me.  He is fine.... I am not.  I went to the ER right away for
treatment and was sent home with oral antibiotics.  I ended up being
admitted into the hospital on Sept. 3rd with a severe infection in the
hand that was bitten.  I had surgery on the 4th.... and am finally home
on the 6th... with a PICC line in my arm and IV antibiotics at home for
the next 2 weeks.
 
The problem is that there isn't much info on the types of bacteria that are
considered 'normal bacterial flora' in a ferret's mouth.  The infectious
disease docs who are following my case would love to have more information
on this.  The even called our zoo (the Henry Doorley Zoo here in Omaha
is one of the nation's premier zoos), and they weren't able to offer them
much info either.  I was stuck in the hospital away from a computer so I
couldn't help them either.
 
Currently I have no use of my left hand.  The ferret that did this to me
was in several abusive situations before the shelter got him.
Unfortunately, I wasn't informed of this and I had mistakenly thought he
was a different (hooman-loving) ferret in the shelter.  He is an almost
identical match to another ferret.  All I did was open the cage and place
food in it, and he attacked my hand.  It was very frightening for me.
Please don't flame me for any of this, I would just like to have some
information for the doctor's if it can help them fix me up!!  I'll be
seeing the doc's on Monday to have the drains pulled from the surgical
site.  If possible, I'd like to have some printed info for them by then.
 
Please email me at [log in to unmask]
or respond here if you'd rather.
 
Thanks!!
Kate
[Posted in FML issue 3533]