ferret triage

barely - hot compresses three times a day, antibiotics twice a day, anti inflammatory twice a day.
walt - antibiotics twice a day, anti inflammatory twice a day.
sawyer - steroidal ear drops three times a day.
riki - extra attention so he does not feel left out.

barely’s wound is healing slowly but surely. he still has a small hole but i watched the student i’ve been working with flush it the other day and it is not very deep and nothing but the clear fluid was coming back. i am keeping him in a seperate cage, cleaning up every time he goes to the bathroom, and generally trying to keep him very clean. he’s annoyed and ready to be out and about, but it is not time yet. we hope he can rejoin his fellows on wednesday. long term: he has tested positive for adrenal disease, and at some point i will have to decide to have an additional surgery (600-800 dollars) or medically manage (100/days). he is about five months old so may yet have a few good months left in him.

walt’s problem is not yet clear. he had been grinding his teeth when he ate, having mild diarrhea and weakness in the back legs, all sort of nondescript symptoms of some sort of problem. was scoped for an ulcer, and that came back clear, though it did irritate his larynx leading to some exciting (read: horrifying) sounds coming from his throat and me leaving him an extra night because I did not think I could avoid panicking when he made those noises w/ each breath (before I knew it was him, I thought it was the sound of a very, very sick parrot coming from the back). we are waiting for test results for adrenal disease and aleutian’s disease, either of that could be causing his discomfort. If adrenal, then again it is either surgery or medical management. He is about 5-6 I think because there is no telling how old he and Sawyer were when I rescued them from neglect.

sawyer had a polyp in his ear, and a lot of inflammation (actually, he had a raging yeast infection in his ear. let’s all think about how tasty THAT is). they have removed about an third of the mass and are having it examined to determine their next move. hopefully it will be non cancerous and they can basically just excavate the rest. he has not been tested for adrenal and seems fit otherwise (despite having a lower energy level than the others, that has always been true since I rescued him).

riki is a particularly tricky case for me. he is one of my first boys, and still as peppy and sassy as ever. but he is getting up in months and as such i may have to make some difficult decisions regarding our course of action. he has a mass attached to his spleen that needs to come out. we are waiting for the results of his adrenal test, but I would put an great deal of money on it being positive, because he has exhibited the classic symptom of pattern hair loss. A combined mass removal/adrenal surgery would be cheaper than separate surgeries, but still — “cheaper” is an oh so relative term. But still… I love him so much. I do not want to unduly stress him or myself in the last months of his life, but I do not see this little man leaving the world any time soon. He’s too much of a sass attack. So now it’s waiting on his results and then deciding what to do next. In the mean time he seems happy, just has a swollen belly and not too much fur.

WHEW. That’s a lot. The vet school has been 99.99% great with me on this, though sadly some different students will be coming into the rotation and I’ll lose my precious Jackie who has been helping me so much. Everyone has told me how wonderful I am to follow up on these problems, have told me how positive I am… And best of all, have told me what wonderful, friendly, and loving ferrets I have. Dr. Mackey was quite clear - “I do not say that to everyone!” And I realized something - I have long said that messed up people have messed up animals, like my grandfather systematically turning every creature who lived with them into a neurotic hateful mess. I spend a lot of time beating myself up for not having MORE to give my pets, MORE time, MORE attention, MORE… but then I reflect on the fact that they are ALL wonderful. Every one of them is loving, friendly to other people, and friendly to each other. And… and….. that must reflect on me. I must be doing a good job with these creatures, no matter how much shit I give myself for not being good enough to them. They are happy, and loving, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

However, I have learned one thing very clearly - It is all ready well known that no matter what kind of pet you have, you should stock away an emergency fund for their health problems from the very beginning. With ferrets, however, you should ONE HUNDRED PERCENT plan on spending an extra, oh, 800+ on adrenal testing/surgery/medicine. And that makes a 100-200 bucks pet a whole hell of a lot more expensive. Worth it, for their little kisses and goofball ways, but definitely USD USD USD .

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