http://www.smartgroups.com/message/readmessage.cfm?gid=1423922
&messageid=5740&startid=5744
 
Author wrote:
>Please help I am new to this site and no vets in my area will see
>ferrets.  He was playing the other >day outside his cage running
>around, but when i found him he does nothing but lay there and
>breath >heavily.  I know its not poison since I blocked off that
>part of the house from him.  He's not even a >year yet.
 
This is really something that should be seen by some vet somewhere.  I
find it difficult to imagine that any vet will turn away a sick animal -
they may not know a lot about ferrets, but most vets will see them if
pressed.  Where are you located?
 
The signs are very non-specific at this point, but Uli's remarks
about juvenile lymphoma are certainly a possibility.  However, I
could not rule out the possibility of heart disease, distemper, and
a number of cardiorespiratory diseases.  Even a foreign body or GI
ulcer causing abdominal pain could cause a ferret to breathe heavily.
Time to get on the phone and find someone to see him.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 4237]