We have an urgent problem and I'm hoping someone can help us.  Our 5 month
old male ferret is really sick and our vet doesn't know what's wrong.  Our
vet is pretty knowledgable about ferrets but he says he's never seen a case
like this before, and as my wife and I live in Japan, it's difficult to get
information sometimes.
 
Briefly, here's what's happening; On Sunday evening we noticed that our
ferret, Riki, was lethargic and seemed to not want to get up and play so we
let him sleep.  Perhaps we should have known at that time that something
was wrong.  Monday morning, he was the same so we took him out of the cage
to play but as soon as we set hime down, he collapsed.  His hind legs
seemed to be strong although he had trouble scratching.  His front legs
have no strength at all although he can move them.I felt around his body
but he didn't seem to be in pain anywhere.  When he moves, he pushes
himself around using his hind legs.  As we were getting ready to go to the
vet, he also seemed to have a strange wheeze or cough and his nose was
running a little.  He still eats and drinks and his stools seem normal
although he can't make it to the litter.  At the vet, his hind legs also
seemed to have lost strength.  The vet wanted to take blood, and shaved
Riki, but wasn't able to draw blood because Riki is only 5 months old (???).
Our other ferret, Juliet, is fine but for the time being we have them
separated.  Our vet said it could be one of many things (distemper,
influenza).  We have another appointment at a different vet in Nagoya in
a few hours but our regular vet didn't seem to think anything could be
done.  I don't mean to second guess him, but I also don't think a second
opinion could hurt which is why we set up an emergency appointment at the
other place.
 
Has anyone ever seen or heard of a case like this and give us some advice?
Riki seems to be getting worse by the moment.  Once in a while his
breathing seems a little laboured but soon goes back to normal.  He was
fine on Saturday, running and jumping around like usual.  As far as we
know, he didn't fall or have an accident as we were in the room the whole
time they were playing.  Anyhow, I'm leaving work now to go with my wife
to the vet but will check my email as much as possible.  Any advice, help
etc.  would really be greatly appreciated.
 
Thank you in advance.
 
Kevin and Masami
Kariya, Japan
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[Posted in FML issue 2832]