>If a ferret has stopped breathing, rather than give mouth-to-mouth
>respiration,
 
After a Fervac vaccination I gave at home, Cooper went into analphylactic
shock.  Within one minute, he was not breathing, his pupils were fixed and
dialated, and he was blue.  I administered epinephrine but he didn't start
breathing.  I then used gentle mouth to *nose* respiration to save his
life.  The emergency clinic said that was appropriate given the size of
the animal.
 
>hold the ferret by its hind legs and, keeping your arms straight, swing
>the animal to the left and then to right.
 
My vet used a similar technique once.  Dancing Bear has a tremendous fluid
buildup in his lungs and is on a huge dose of Lasix 4 times daily.  Because
of DB's soft diet, he needed to have his teeth professionally cleaned.
After a quick 15 minute cleaning, DB's lungs were filled with fluid and he
was struggling to breathe.  The vet supported DB on the length of his arm
and sandwiched DB with his other arm.  He then swung DB from shoulder
height towards the floor several times.  You cannot believe the amount of
fluid that was expelled.  I'm sure DB thought he was toast during the
swinging.
 
>with introduction of new, young ferrets to older ferrets, if green
>diarrhea appears in the older ferrets, assume a helicobacter infection
>before you think ECE.
 
The other thing to consider is simple stress which can cause temporary
green diarrhea.
 
The only way to diagnose helicobacter is to do a bioposy.  Since it is
much easier (and cheaper) to treat helicobacter than to diagnose it with
certainty, many vets prescribe the helicobacter treatment first.  But the
drugs used to treat helicobacter will clear up a lot of problems (as may
the passage of time), so it is commonly assumed that if the problem clears
up, it must have been helicobacter.
 
Dr. Steve Gardner (the pathologist recommended by Dr. Williams) has
told my vet, Dr. Mark Burgess, that he believes heliocobacter is *way*
overdiagnosed.  Dr Gardner has said that he has seen only *1* case of true
helicobacter on submitted pathology samples.  (My guess here is that since
vets routinely treat for helicobacter first, the only samples submitted to
Dr. Gardner are those that don't respond to treatment, thus are not usually
helicobacter.)
 
    -Carla
[Posted in FML issue 2966]