Have to break this into two posts, I guess! [Combined them into one. BIG] Razzle's mom here... I'd emailed the FML on Saturday night asking for advice for my boy Razzle who was obviously becoming ill with something...in the interest of ferret-health and science I've decided to post what has happened since then (actually, yesterday morning when I was finally able to get him to the vet). These are cobbled-together bits and pieces of posts that I sent to the people who emailed me with advice, so they may be 'repeats' for some of you, and thank you all again so much for your advice and support! I will update with new info as it comes along. Monday 11/29 8am I just got back from the vet. I'm having to leave Razzle there for awhile for a blood panel and urine analysis. It doesn't look good. It seems he's got uremia, and may be in full-blown renal failure, in which case he's a goner. This came out of nowhere, and it's just awful. I'm just sitting here at home waiting for a call. 11/29 10:30am I *just* got the call from the vet...*tentative* good news! It looks like he's got pyelonephritis, not full-blown renal failure, but a really bad kidney/bladder infection going on, and indeed, it can come almost out of nowhere, the vet said. Not too common in ferrets, more often seen in dogs and cats. His kidneys did sustain *some* damage, but at least they're not totally trashed. His BUN is seriously elevated at 122 (normal is like 10-30), and his creatinine is high but not astronomically at 1.1 (normal being .02-.08). He'll be in hospital for a couple more days, on heavy duty antibiotics, and he's on a sort-of dialysis, getting IV fluids (Lactated Ringers) and then some more bloodwork will be done in a couple days to make sure the levels are going back down to normal, but unless something awful happens (knock wood), he *should* be fine. They say he's been fairly alert and eating and drinking and slurping Ensure, so that's good; he's got a will to stay nourished. 11/29 2pm I stopped in to see Razzle on my way to work (took his favorite toy to sleep with and a 'get well card' from the other 2 ferrets) and and he was half-sleeping but woke up and seemed *much* perkier when he saw me; the 'haunted' look was gone from his face and he just looked kinda drowsy, but definitely a better demeanor than earlier this morning. Like he's relieved that we've figured out he's sick and we're working on making him better. 11/29 5:30pm I called from work later this evening they said he'd been eating and drinking again, and digging in his food dish and acting (in the words of the vet tech ) 'pretty spry', so I'm very hopeful he'll come out of this okay. It took two of them to cap off his IV and get the meds in him, so he's definitely got spirit! ...to be continued... Part two.... 11/30 8am Called the vet's, he's alert and active, eating and drinking, pooping and peeing, just like a good ferret ;) I'll go in to see him in a few hours. 11/30 1pm Got some med info when I went to see him, he's on Clavamox 0.33cc BID, and he's off the IV for today, they said he's pretty well rehydrated. He's a little awkward, but getting around okay with the buffalo cap and catheter on his arm, surprisingly, he's not messing or fussing with it too badly, it's all covered in VetRap and he's pretty much ignoring it, bless his heart, like he knows it's in there to help him! He's eating and drinking, and snarfing Ensure, and pooping and peeing, but he still seems to not be able to pee everytime he gets in the box, but the vet pointed out since his bladder is infected too, and just like when a human has a UTI, they feel the urge, but nothing comes out . He was up and around and seemed glad to see me, crawled right into my arms and gave a big sigh and curled up and rested his head on my arm and just was happy to be there. Looking still relieved and healthier, but definitely not my non-stop bouncing, dooking boy. I so want to see him do that again. Tomorrow they're doing some more blood tests, and we're hoping the BUN and creatinine are back to healthier levels. If they've dropped significantly he may be able to come home and be on meds here...I just don't want him to relapse, I want to make sure he's well on the road to recovery and only needing meds here at home...we've not talked about me sub-q-ing fluids or anything like that, but I don't know that he's in that bad of shape that he'd need it. It's a day by day thing... So, here we are at midnight, turning into December 1st. I'll be calling in the morning and dropping by again on my way to work, and I'll post anything significant (or not!) just to keep everyone up-to-date. If *anyone* has any experience with this illness, vets or lay-people, please let me know, either on-or-off-list. I've found very little mention online regarding it in ferrets. Regarding cost of all this, I still don't know. It's not going to be cheap, that's for sure, probably around $500. There goes Christmas. But I guess that's the price one pays for being surrounded by fuzzy-love! I think it's a fair trade. Until tomorrow, ~Sherrie, aka daoine o', the ferret queen Monty-boo and Jezebel ('Where's Razzle? There's too much room in the hammies and sleepsacks!') Razzle ('Wow I never get this kind of star treatment at home! They're waiting on me hand and paw around here!') ~still missing Dweezil, my one small star~ [Posted in FML issue 4713]