 
Before
After
Toward the end of last summer I started noticing some hair loss on my
approximately 3-4 year old female ferret, Bauble. I had recently
treated her for fleas and since it was on her shoulder area, I just
figured it was caused by either the Frontline or from scratching.
But within a few months the hair loss started to spread and I also
noticed her vulva was swollen. That's when I got involved
with the
"Ferret Gals" and started to try & learn what might be wrong
with her.
My local vet is not ferret knowledgeable and I was referred to The
Ohio
State University School of Veterinary Medicine which is about 90
miles
away.
After suggesting to my vet the possibility of adrenal disease, he
did an
ultrasound, but it didn't show anything. Ohio State did another
ultrasound and said it showed that her right adrenal was the problem
and
by then I had read enough to realize that this surgery was very
dangerous. I cried all the way home. They called me
after her surgery
and said that both adrenals looked OK and they hadn't removed
either
one. They did take out 3 samples of tissue that they were
going to run
tests on, but when the tests came back they said they didn't show
anything.
They thought there could also be an ovarian remnant that could be
producing the same symptoms. I might add, that AT NO TIME,
did she EVER
appear to be sick - just the cosmetic symptoms was all she ever
had.
So I took her home with no meds or anything - they had just opened
her
up and closed her back up for nothing. When I asked them what they
had
seen in the ultrasound, they said it might have been "an air pocket"
she
developed in the ride over. After about a month - SHE STARTED
GROWING
SOME HAIR I was delighted, but at the same time, I knew it
was the
normal change of seasons and since they didn't do anything, WHY
SHOULD
IT BE GROWING BACK IN ???? Well - it stopped growing
in and her vulva
continued to be swollen. Then I started noticing a discharge
from her
vulva. This was probably 3 months or more after her surgery.
After
having my local vet confer with OSU, and after repeated phone calls,
I
got the OSU vet to prescribe an antibiotic This was a human
drug and
when i went to pick it up at the pharmacy they were confused about
the
dosage. Again it took repeated calls to get this straightened out.
I
gave her the antibiotic, but after it was done, I still noticed
a
discharge. Again , I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT WAS WRONG AND WHY
WAS SHE
BALD. I called OSU again and they talked about giving her
a shot of HCG
for diagnostic purposes and I waited longer while my vet tried to
find
some in a dose small enough for a ferret. Finally, I got fed
up and
just called OSU and made and appointment to bring her back in.
They
examined her and palpitated the pus pocket. Then they aspirated
it and
got
infection out of it. They were going to do surgery in several
days, but
they had me wait there a little while because they had aggravated
the
infection and she didn't appear to be feeling well. Then they
asked me
to "go get lunch" because they wanted to observe her a little while
longer. I had come in at 9:00. Finally, after 2:00 they
called me in
and said they wanted to keep her because she really wasn't doing
that
well. If that infection burst, since they had poked it, she
would need
immediate surgery. So I finally left at 3:00 without my ferret and
scared to death for her. I told them that I wanted the left adrenal
removed regardless of what they thought.
They also suspected she had an ovarian remnant called a "stump pyometra"
which had become infected. They did the surgery the next day.
I also
had a different surgeon this time. They removed the ovarian
remnant
which was terribly abscessed and her left adrenal which when run
through the
lab was cancerous !!! They kept her for several days after
the surgery
to make sure she was OK and she was eating and pooping. I
paid them
ANOTHER $700.00 with a credit card and told them I would dispute
it,
since this all should have been done the 1st time and she lived
for over
3 more months with cancer and infection inside of her and could
have
died. They did end up writing-off the entire second bill.
I brought her home and this time it took her a little longer to
bounce
back. But soon she was back to her old self, chasing the cats and
terrorizing the household.
After about 5 weeks, I started noticing dark spots on her and then
pretty soon- dare I say it - STUBBLE !!!!!! Her hair
started growing
in and her vulva swelling started to reduce. Slowly, but surely,
she
has become my little "fuzzy" again and she seems to have more
energy
than ever. This whole process took almost a year !!!!!!
I'm glad I
stuck to my guns and didn't listen to all the people that said I
should
just have her put to sleep because she looked so bad. After looking
at
her picture, I had forgotten just how bad she did look. But
BABY, LOOK
AT HER NOW !!!!!!
|
His story goes
like this. We been battling an ulcer and he seemed to be getting
better
than around the 3rd of this month he stopped wanting to eat and
his
poops got slimy but I thought it was just his ulcer acting up.
On the
6th I took him in for more blood work and stool samples and by the
10th I
had not yet hear anything back. By this point we were literally
force
feeding him though a syringe He was not playing at all and not even
drinking on his own. I brought him to the vet after Judy called
and
told me I needed to learn how to subque him to help hydrate him.
Thank
the good lord for her advise. I took him in and my vet wasn't
there so
the other vet took him and ran every imaginable test there was (almost)
and could not figure out what was wrong. We were getting words
like
cancer and totally eroded bowls and destroyed intestines thrown
at us.
She believed we would have until thursday to put him to sleep
to ease
his pain. yesterday , my regular vet came
in picked up Gus did what
he calls the squishy squishy test and found a blockage. Ruled
out every
disease from the test results went in and took out a green piece
of foam
rubber. Gus is doing way better now. All
this just to tell you.
he's 10 days away from turning 5 i thought he was old enough to
know
better. I always assumed it'd be the other one who would
swallow
something. The most amazing thing to me is that we've
discovered it
was the end of the door stopper in the dinning room. The boinging
ones
we all flicked as children. He pulled it off and swallowed
it!! I never
even considered then to be a danger before this. He's doing
good and I
should have him home tomorrow. |
