Hello once again.
 
Have you ever had one of those situations that you wish someone who knew a
lot about ferrets was right there to assess the situation and tell you
exactly what to do because you knew that if you were to try to explain it on
paper people would not understand because you just can't explain it well
enough?  Whew - even this can be confusing.  I wonder if I can do better
with the real story.
 
This is going to be fairly lengthy so if you don't really care, don't read
the rest of this post.
 
You all know that I had trouble with Snoopy - the high strung little 5+ year
old girl that probably had helicobacter.  (She has been an absolute puzzle
since we got her and I have never stopped worrying about her.) She had
stopped having diahrea and was again eating on her own and gaining some of
her weight back.  She also stopped wanting to be cuddled - yea she is
getting back to normal, finally.  I would periodically put her with her
former buddy and she seemed to like that very much.  As she improved, she
suddenly got the idea that she no longer wanted to be caged (we did let her
out during the day but she would make one or two rounds and go to bed, in
her cage so we would close the cage door so that someone else could have a
turn out).  One day, I came home from work and her cage was a mess.  As we
watched her we discovered that she had been pooing by the door and pacing
back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.......in the poop.  There
appeared to be blood mixed in with the poop and we thought she was terribly
sick.  It looked a bit strange though - the blood was in pin pricked spots,
like chicken feet prints.  She had paced so much that her front feet were
raw and one foot had an open sore that was bleeding.  Great.  An open sore
and she had poop caked on her all over.  She was a mess.  Into the bath she
went.  When put back in her clean cage, she immediately started pacing
again.  We couldn't leave her there and tried her with her old room mate
(which of course went over well) and her new room mate that she acquired 8
months ago when Snoopy got sick (we had to isolate Snoopy).  He is an albino
neutered male.  This was the easiest introduction that we had ever had and
things went very well - no fighting or struggling or anything, ever.  Thank
God.  She didn't even have diahrea from stress - one of the first times ever
I think.  She didn't even seem stressed out with being in a different room.
All was fixed we thought.
 
She has stopped putting on weight, in fact has lost the little that she had
gained back.  She has now taken to pacing infront of the door to her room
(this is probably why she isn't gaining any weight), pooping there
frequently and pacing in it, back and forth.....until we let her out, and we
can't always do that.  We leave the ferrets caged when we are out, and at
night, for their own safety, they have their own rooms (see post from
yesterday) and are let out each day for a change of pace (excuse the pun)
from their "rooms." Her poops are thin (skinny) and soft (although not
diahrea).  Could this also be from the "exercise" that she is getting?  She
eats little bits, but frequently, still drinks normally, poops and pees more
frequently than any of them, and even though she is just a bit of a thing
(probably just over a half of a pound), she seems to have quite a bit of
strength.  She has always seemed to live in a world of her own - like a
Autistic child.  Her fur is quite thin but I think that because of her
illness she missed the winter coat change.
 
Could she still have helicobacter?  Could she have adrenal disease?  She is
almost to the age which has been our maximum age (7 has been our max) so
surgery is our of the question and she is so tiny that she is not a good
candidate for surgery anyway.  Maybe there is something else I could do.  It
would help if I knew what was with her to start with.  Our vet just says
that because of her age and their size, etc.  etc....it could be anything
and therefore nothing is done.  Please give me your views.  I hope this has
made sense and that someone could help me with this little sweet puzzler.
Thanks in advance for any replies.  I am at wits end with her.
 
Tryntje Miller                   Net:[log in to unmask]
Conrad Grebel College Library    Tel: (519) 885-0220 ext. 239
Waterloo, Ontario                Fax: (519) 885-0014
N2L 3G6
[Posted in FML issue 1813]