>On to the main subject of the post: Sebastian is fat.  This is not news,
>he has always been a big boy, but I'm afraid he is out of shape for a
>ferret his age.  He's around 5 or 6 (I think-- not sure exactly) and
>is quite tubby and squishy.
 
>Besides being adrenal and on Lupron there's nothing wrong with him
>healthwise, at least not since his last vet visit.
>
>I've never really heard of overweight being problematic in ferrets,
>it's usually underweight that's a problem.
 
Rachel --
 
We had a ferret that last spring became very obese.  Fritz had been given
a clean bill of health in January of last year, but when he became so
large I took him back to the vet.  He was also adrenal.
 
He had bloodwork run, X-rays down, various fecal tests -- all came back
clean.  In the meantime he kept getting bigger and bigger.  We figured it
was the adrenal, so we had the surgery done, hoping the hormones would
level out and he'd lose the weight.
 
He didn't.  He continued to maintain his very obese body, and at the same
time was trying to recover from major surgery.  He became diabetic within
a couple of weeks, had his electrolytes checked (normal) and was put on
insulin.  He died a few days later.
 
It turns out he had liver cancer.  He must have thrown a clot that lodged
in his artery and that was the actual cause of death according to the
necropsy.
 
So yes, it's rare but obesity can be a real problem, especially if it's
hiding something else.  I would take Sebastian to the vet and have a
complete check-up done, including bloodwork and X-rays, even though he
got a clean bill of health at his last visit.
 
Amy, Dave, Sarah & Paul (and their gaggle of giggling ferrets)
RIP Ian, Elektra, Claudia, Sidney, Max, Hannah & Fritz
Missing Tasha
[Posted in FML issue 4917]