Last spring (May98) I noticed that my ferret, Normie (5yrs old), had an
enlarged eyeball.  It was a bit larger than the other one and would appear
cloudy on different days.  Although it didn't seem to bother him it didn't
look normal, so I took him to the vet.  He apparently hit his eye on
something while playing around the house.  Anyway, the vet. took pressure
readings on his eye and the readings were okay, but not great.  He sent
me home with some eye drops (one to reduce swelling and antibiotics), and
Normie and I went back for another visit about 2 weeks later.  Although the
eye wasn't as large as it was originally it didn't really show too much
improvement.  We kept treating him with the eye drops for the summer and by
September decided to have that one eyeball removed.  He was starting to
develop glaucoma which meant that Norm would have to be given medication
probably for the rest of his life.  So, the eyeball was removed and Norm
ran around the house like a crazy man soon (1 day) after his operation.  It
was like he had a bit of a headache for several months and then one day it
was finally gone!  He was the happiest guy!  The vet. said that there may
have been pressure building up from his eye and that he probably did
experience a headache for a while.  He does fine without his one eye, and
I think that we made the best choice in having it removed.  I still think
that he's the most handsome ferret around.
 
Melanie and the gang (Gizmo, Norman, and Moser)
[Posted in FML issue 2664]