Hello everyone,
My thoughts are with all the little furry things that are feeling under
the weather.
 
I have a question about a my rescue ferret, Doddle.  She is probably
between 2 to 4 years old and was heavily in season when I got her,
the vet suggested that she had probably had a litter at some stage.
 
She had terrible complications after being desexed (a vet who said that
they had a lot of ferret experience but in fact had very little, but
that's an other story).  They used internal stitches and she had a
reaction to them and ended up with the abdominal muscle around the
stitches getting infected, becoming swollen and hard, antibiotics did not
work so they ended up operating again to remove the infected area and
change the stitches from internal to normal external ones.  She recovered
well from this second operation but then proceeded to get very fat (she
looked like a deranged and furry little brick) she lost the extra weight
but has been left with a really saggy belly.
 
Its like a small, soft fluid filled area, under the skin, just forward of
her back legs.  It has not changed in size or hardness, but becomes less
pronounced in autumn when she tends to put a bit of weight one again.
 
I have taken her to a vet who said that she was in good health but I am
in Australia and the majority of vets have limited experience with
ferrets.  The vet checked her for heart problems and said she was ok.
She is very bright, active and happy.
 
I may well be a hypochondriac on her behalf, but I have never forgiven
myself for taking her to a terrible vet and putting her through that
entire trauma and would be devastated if I had failed to act if she had
a problem.
 
Any advice on what it might be would be greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks
Skye and Doodle
[Posted in FML issue 4392]