A very sad situation.  The ferret was brought to our vets office because
he wasn't moving.  He was swarming with fleas and so anemic his gums were
as white as his teeth.  Prognosis is very poor.  He's with me now and I'm
doing all I can for him.  He was given Capstar at the vets office and a
Vit B12 injection.  When he was picked up by dear friends and wonderful
volunteers, he was still crawling with fleas.  He was bathed twice, both
times the water filled with fleas.

I sub-q'd fluids, gave a shot of dexamethasone, and we got him to lap up
almost a full serving of recipe and got his body temp controlled with a
heating pad under his blanket.  He's so weak he can't hold his head up.
He can't walk, it is a flopping crawl of two steps.  He can't right
himself.

This sweet boy may not make it.  He's been literally almost drained of
his blood by the flea infestation.  If we can get him a little stronger
we may be able to give him a blood transfusion.  At the moment he is
beyond too weak to withstand any procedure.

Fleas can be deadly to these little ones.  Please take the time to check
your ferrets and other companion animals for fleas and flea dirt.  Where
there is one, there are many more.

Ferrets don't seem to react as strongly to fleas, by scratching, as
dogs and cats do so fleas on ferrets can be easily overlooked.  For
ferrets to get to the stage of anemia this little one is, it didn't
happen overnight.

Please monitor your ferrets behavior closely every single day.  I realize
life can get busy, but what we need to remember is that when we take on
the responsibility of another life, whether it is a companion animal or a
human, we need to put that life(s) as a priority.  With summertime comes
fleas, heat, etc.  We need to be aware of the dangers and protect those
in our care.

For years I've used Advantage with good results.  1-2 drops on the back
of the neck of each ferret, once a month, seems to work well for us.
This year we've not had fleas.  I'm hoping that we don't get them from
this situation.  Even though I've not seen any before this time, the
group will be getting Advantaged just in case.  The carpets will be
steam cleaned with soap.  The bedding will be washed.  It will be a
busy cleaning weekend and these little ones are well worth it.

Please share this message with others.

hugs. tle
www.ferretfamilyservices.org
[Posted in FML issue 5284]