I need some help/advice from all of you who have dealt with sick fuzzies.
 
I have had ferrets for almost five years now, and all of them were babies
when I got them.  Up until now I haven't had to deal first-hand with the
various diseases that occur as they age.  Now I am wondering if one of mine
has the early stages of adrenal.....
 
Moose is a three and a half year old MF sable.  He has always been the
biggest of the herd at 3.7 pounds on average.  He started to lose some
weight over the summer and never fattened up with the others for winter.
My other three all have put on weight and have big soft fluffy winter
coats.  But he has a scraggly, rough coat and is only 1.8 pounds now.  He
wasn't eating very much and wasn't interested in playing, so I took him to
the vet.  He thought he might have a cold, but also decided to check him
for an adrenal problem and insulinoma.  He was started on some antibiotics
until the blood tests came back.  (Sidenote: When I got Moose home from the
vet, he hadn't eaten or had any water in approx.  10 hours.  He was limp
and wouldn't wake up.  I talked to an emergency vet service who told me to
rub his gums with corn syrup and, if that didn't work, to give him a
mixture of syrup and water with a syringe.  The vet was an hour away, so I
tried the syrup water first rather than chance doing nothing for an hour
while driving.  After two and a half hours Moose started to come around and
I could hand feed him some food.  Was this because the vet didn't feed him
or was it a problem with the anesthesia they used to draw his blood?) Back
to the story.....the blood tests all came back "within the normal range."
No insulinoma, no adrenal problems, probably just a cold.  Moose finished
the week of antibiotics and is eating and playing normally again.
 
Here's my concern: It's been almost 4 weeks and Moose still hasn't put on
any weight.  I can feel his ribs when I touch him.  Even my daintiest
little girl weighs more than he does now.  AND he has started trying to
mount the other three, even the other male.  Moose has always been the most
docile, gentle boy.  He lets the girls drag him around and put him in his
place with their other toys.  He's never shown the slightest aggression
towards anyone or anything.  Now he's holding the others down, biting and
shaking the backs of their necks, and mounting them!  I know that a return
to sexual aggression is often part of adrenal problems.  I'm confused,
though, because he hasn't lost any fur on his tail or rump.  His fur isn't
pretty or soft, but it is definitely there.  Can ferrets have adrenal
problems without the hair loss?  Could this just be the really, really
early stages or would the aggression and weight loss be a sign of something
else?
 
Any help or advice is very welcome from all off you.  Please e-mail me
directly.  I only have e-mail access at work and I often get several days
behind in reading the entire FML with my workload.  The address is
[log in to unmask]
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me solve this puzzle.
 
Debi
Moose, FiFi, Lily, Jiggy
and the cat named Puppy
[Posted in FML issue 2900]