Dead ferret

[Rainmaker 7]

This is a new one on me.

 

Found my little (just over 3mths?) ferret gill couldn't stand properly the other day. She was a bit thin (seemed to drop off overnight) and was struggling to stand, then hobbling along like she was on stilts.

 

Hard to describe, but that's the closest I can get. Stiff rear legs, wobbling gait and legs out far apart to try to keep her balance. She kept rolling over and "ticking", though seemed bright enough mentally.

 

She didn't want food but lapped milk up out of my hand well enough. The morning after, she couldn't even get off her back, just kept rolling and "fitting" (ticking, twitching, but not actually a fit) and wobbling around helplessly on her side

 

She looked a mess, had lost yet more weight overnight, and couldn't right herself. I knocked her on the head after a bit of milk and a tickle

 

Anyone got any ideas what the hell this could be? The other ferrets (including a gill kit the same age) are fine.

[Guest Joelfc01]

neva heard of that before [bANNED TEXT] RIP the Ferret tho

 

Joe

[owdbum 0]

2 or 3 year ago a 2 year old jill I had went down with exactly the same symtoms, I knocked her aswell...never did find out for sure what it was, but I reckon it was some sort of inner ear infection, causing the lack of co-ordination etc, and a temperature hike due to the infection, leading to dehydration, weight loss and fitting...You did the right thing mate just like you, none of my other tykes were affected, and she seemed quite alert when not fitting....

Trouble is, furts go down hill so rapid, they are dead and buried in no time, no chance for the vetinary to see them...that's if you vet knows owt about ferrets anyways

 

owdbum

[Guest bd roughcoat]

I wonder iff your jill had what is known as the 'Staggers' a sympton rather than an illness .

The Staggers is caused by ear mites which knock your ferret off balance and it may seem semi paralysed , often dragging itself around in circles .

It would be interesting to know iff she had a brown discharge coming from her ears as this is a classic sign , your ferret would'nt be feeding properley which may account for the weight loss .

Just a thought mate anyway sorry about your loss .

Good hunting

B.D.

[welshdragon 6]

hi RainmakerKennels

what do you feed your ferrets on if its fresh food did it go off in this weather

just a thought still its sad to loose a member of a team

[RabbitNMY 0]

I had a little jill about 8 maybe 10 years ago, had the same probs as you describe.

I never found out what it was.

I took the ferret to the vets in the last stages of her life and they said it looked like gastro.

I doubt the diognosis as it didnt show all the gastro symtoms i know.

We brought it indoors overnight. My wife sat up and tried her hardest to aid the poor thing, it died !

 

Ear mites ? now that sort of makes sense to me. Because yea it will affect the balance.

I have never had it in my cages sinse...

Hope we dont get this to often.....

let me know if anyone has a deffo answer for this.

All the best

Steve

[PUG 3]

It could be Aleutian Disease, how are your other ferrets?

 

PUG

[Guest Dave]

Would it not have been worth while taking the ferret to the vet?

 

Dave

[spade 224]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I had a similar sort of thing a couple of years ago. Went out to find one jill dead and the other unable to stand/move. It would move its front then just drag the back end up until it could go no further and topple over. I tried feeding it with a oral syringe but eventually had to knock it to stop it suffering. The chap i had them off reckons it might have been some sort of virus similar to cat flu.

[Guest Doug]

Trouble with ferrets is they show staggers for all sorts of illness.

 

Reckon you did right by the poor little thing, though.