Woozle Has A Crappy Weekend
Oh boy. Poor Woozle Ferret. He's been feeling like crap all weekend.
(Why do pets always get sick on weekends or in the middle of the night? How do they know the vets are all closed?!)
I noticed an H-harness collar I bought online for him a few weeks ago was sitting oddly on him and apparently bothering him a bit. It was a stiffer mesh than I normally get at the pet store. When I originally put it on, it passed the two finger test with flying colours under both straps. Two weeks later, he was no heavier, but the collar appeared wrinkly and tight, and barely passed the one finger test. I took it off, and there was a chafed area under his little fat chin. I felt like the worst mom in the world.
He's been harness-free for a week or so now, and I put little dabs of NeoSporin on his ouch, and that seemed to be okay. He couldn't reach it to lick it off, after all. Since I was buying a new bag of Natural Gold ferret chow anyway, I ordered Marshall's Ferret Wound Aide.
The following issue may not be the fault of the product, or may be just a coincidence, but on the off-chance it is the product causing the problems, I advise you NOT TO BUY THIS PRODUCT.
I put a little on his ouch, and within ten minutes, Woozle collapsed to the floor of his condo, and was almost unresponsive. He lacked muscle tone and was lethargic. He refused Laxatone, which he never does. When placed on the floor, he'd walk a step or two and then immediately "speed bump" and look exhausted. He may have drooled a bit. I ran some cold water and made him rinse out his mouth, which he hated, and washed his neck again under the tap, which he also hated. He showed a little of his old spirit when I got his drying towel down for him to roll in, which usually makes him wild and crazy and full of beans. Though he rolled a bit, he looked like he wanted to do more, but was too tired to keep at it. I called three local vets, and two don't deal with ferrets at all. The third told me that what I was already doing, washing his neck off and talking to him, jostling him a bit, trying to encourage him to drink some water, were all correct. In short, no emergency after-hours care or extended weekend care for ferrets anywhere in my city of neighboring cities. Great. Only one vet who acted like they knew anything about ferrets at all. I made a tentative appointment, since no one else would or could see him anyway, and told them I'd report back either way, whether we were coming in or not. I then prepared for the worst.
While holding him, I got on the laptop and looked up poisonings and symptoms online. From there I found some poison hotlines. One didn't work, the other did. I called the ASPCA Poison Control Hotline, which is a $55 credit card fee, for future reference, but they were very helpful (and you can keep calling them throughout the night without an additional charge, and your vet can consult with the vets at the hotline, too), and reported what he was doing. He regained muscle tone, but was lethargic still, and only moderately responsive. He insisted on sleeping, so I put him in a flannel "envelope" bed-sack and sat him next to me while I was on the phone with doctors. He made noises as I rubbed him that sounded like the mewing calls he used to make right after I adopted him, when he was apparently having bad dreams. Pitiful. I was scared to death.
Again, do not use this product, at least not until my vet clears it as the cause of Woozle's severe negative reaction. He got the tiniest amount on his "outsides" and almost immediately flopped to the ground, drooled, and collapsed. It has a water and alcohol base, a fungicide, an anti-bacterial agent and some lanolin in it, and one, some, or all of these ingredients may have caused anaphalactic shock / poisoning symptoms.
He's almost back to normal now, but it was been eight hours of hell on Friday, and another hour of stress on Saturday, when he didn't appear to be eating, and eight more hours of stress on Sunday. On Friday, he refused food and drink and cried and was chilly to the touch and didn't care that I was touching his belly (he normally begrudges me this) and had slightly glassy eyes. When he got his muscle tone back and looked more alert, he was still worn out and chilly and griping a bit. I put a heating pad next to him so he'd feel the radiant heat but not have it over or under him, and this seemed to help a lot. The house was cold and damp last night, since it has been rainy, When he started exhibiting mild curiosity again (whatcha eatin'? what's that crinkly sound? what's this device you're talking into with the voices coming out of it? If you leave the room, I'm going to sneak out of my snuggly spot and crawl under your blankets on your bed), I was delighted. Sunday, he had a much less dramatic fit, but still looked glassy-eyed and limp and unhappy. I had some sugary stuff on hand this time (darn my diet, I had nothing but some Halowe'en candy for the kids when he spazzed out on Friday, and he can't have any of it; even the pancake syrup was sugar-free), and he refused fruit juice (which is normally a no-no, so he doesn't realize it is okay for him to have some, maybe), and reluctantly let me give him a dab of grape jam. I had absolutely no other non-chocolate sweet stuff in the house. No vets were available. I didn't want to drag him to the 24-hour Kroger while I ran frantically up and down the aisles buying Karo syrup or honey and PediaLyte and PediaSure and stuff, nor did I want to leave him unattended at home.
The ASPCA vet on the Poison Control hotline DID say that he may have insulinoma, and that the Wound Aide product just brought on a fit or it was a complete coincidence, and I just happened to catch him passing out because my schedule was different that Friday (pushed-back deadline for class, was in classroom building rather than elsewhere). I ended up not eating until after midnight, because I forgot I hadn't until I, too, started feeling faint and crabby and weak. Two mammals with hypoglycaemia under one roof is two too many.
Seems like if he was having insulinoma spells before, though, I'd see them. I either have him near me or he's in the kitchen and I check on him every half hour to an hour just by naturally going back in there to refill my drink or make dinner or get a snack or get some fresh ice. I always take him out and hold him when I do, or let him play on the floor while I make dinner. He often plays in the bathroom when I'm preparing to go out or know I'll be in there a while, too. I hate to say it, but I've been monitoring him for a while, and something else does appear to be off. He lost more fur than usual this summer, and his tail fur is still sparse, but not exactly rat-tail-like. He feels bonier to me, but has had his usual diet. I did try to introduce a new kitten chow that was recommended by ferret websites online, but he hated it. Still, SOMEone is eating the usual amount of food each day, even if he's picking out the flavours he likes and spitting out the despised kitten food. He's of the right age for insulinoma, since he's probably about 5-6 years old. His belly may have larger lumps inside than I'm used to feeling, though it is hard to tell if that is because of summer weight loss or something more sinister. He does get natural light from the kitchen window, but he also sometimes gets light at night while I'm up. He can avoid it by going inside his box or down to the bottom floor or into his sleepsack on the top floor, and sometimes he does those things.
He's back to his normal self at the moment, but I'm going to be monitoring him closely. I didn't have any Pedialyte or Karo in the house, and with me on a diet, the only sugar was either granulated white or chocolate-y Hallowe'en candy. So I need to add those to my shopping list. Even the pancake syrup in the house was diet / sugarfree. He refused a taste of an all-natural fruit smoothie. He refused a lick of grape jelly, only other sugary thing I had on hand besides chocolate syrup, or flavoured booze like Kahlua, both of which would be bad ideas. He doesn't get fed candy or much human food and doesn't care much for raisins. Occasionally I'll cave and let him have half a piece of Life cereal or a couple of balls of Kix or a lick of yoghurt, but never anything much or often. He gets Bandits on occasion, too, but doesn't really care about them much. He eats them to be polite, or takes them courteously and then trots off to bury them under his "sleeping donut".
If he has hypoglycaemia, at least I know exactly how he feels, and it sucks. I have it. I've fainted and had spells and felt like ass before, too.
He's definitely skinnier than I like, his boo-boo is better but shouldn't have happened (the collar appears to have shrunk somehow, like something thrown in a dryer, and is "wavy" and lumpy, and he does like sticking his head under his waterbottle and soaking his head and back in the resulting flood). It's officially a cat collar, and no warnings about it possibly shrinking when wet were mentioned. The clasps were also hard to adjust. Not buying collars online again. It was cheap, but not worth the new problems.
If he has insulinoma, I have no experience with treating it. He doesn't really like Duk Soup, alas. When he's ill, he won't take in stuff he doesn't like much, just to please me. He tries tastes of things when he's feeling good, or if he thinks another animal is getting more of something than he is getting, but never when he actually feels bad. Ugh. I'm often at school for most of the day, so I'm not home to monitor him, and I'm worried he's been having fits I haven't seen, IF it is insulinoma and not just the typical summer weight loss and fur change. He typically does his molt and fattening-up in Sept / Oct, as our hottest month is August. But he should be getting fat and fuzzy again by now. This is a long time to be skinny and to have a less-than-fully-furred tail. It's not patching up his back or looking ratty, just the typical shedding-time sparseness. Is he eating less food than I think? *worry, worry, worry*
I debated about whether to bring him in on Saturday morning, when he was perking along and was no longer showing symptoms, and I should have taken him in. I forgot that most vets are closed on Sundays. Sure enough, he had another spell, and I felt like crap. I didn't want to stress him out worse if it was a single event, but it is looking like an underlying illness. He's feeling spunky again, and is full of mischief and not particularly cuddly (as is normal; he loves his mom, but he likes getting into trouble more than cuddling with me). When he's sick, he can't get close enough to me, and I have a ferret draped around my neck, over an arm, next to my hip or in my lap at all times where I can reach him and pet him.
The only bright side to all this trauma and angst is that I was home at the time it happened, if it is insulinoma and not a poisoning. (If the latter, then I inadvertently CAUSED it, by trusting a Marshall's product I knew little about, argh! *guilt*). I had just turned in a huge school project and have a breather until Monday. All I was looking forward to was watching "House," which I missed, actually, busily focusing on Woozle.
I know he's "old" for a ferret. I'm just not ready to lose him, yet. I hope he is spared an insulinoma and that this was an isolated poisoning instance. I can easily avoid using the bad product again. When I do go to see the vet, I'll tell them they can have it, but to use it very carefully. I can't imagine that Marshall's would sell it if ALL ferrets drool and go limp when it touches them. Mine isn't going to have any of it again, though, unless the vet confirms absolutely that it was a coincidence that he had a fit in front of me after getting a tiny dose of the Marshall's antibiotic stuff.
All the drooling and limpness and glassy eyes sure put a tiny chafed spot on his neck into perspective quickly. I have a touch of hypoglycaemia, and that's what happens to me when my blood sugar drops. I empathize with the little guy. I know how miserable and weak he feels when his blood sugar bottoms out. The danger is, however, that what I could recover from, he might not. Low blood sugar fits are harder on you when you weigh less than three pounds, and he could have seizures if it is insulinoma and not treated..
Anyone with ferrets: do you have insulinoma advice?
Send Mr Woozle some positive vibes, as he's had a crappy weekend and has felt bad approximately every twelve hours or so, especially after being out to play. He's with me in the radio station tonight and seems to be his old self, but he had another small fit today, so I'm now leaning towards it being insulinoma, which is bad news. A poisoning would be traumatic, but at least it wouldn't be an ongoing issue. *sigh* The vet's office opens at 7AM, and I'm already planning to just deejay as long as I can, grab some breakfast, drive straight to the vet's rather than home, then sit with Mr Woozle in the parking lot until the doors open.
*worry, worry*
(Why do pets always get sick on weekends or in the middle of the night? How do they know the vets are all closed?!)
I noticed an H-harness collar I bought online for him a few weeks ago was sitting oddly on him and apparently bothering him a bit. It was a stiffer mesh than I normally get at the pet store. When I originally put it on, it passed the two finger test with flying colours under both straps. Two weeks later, he was no heavier, but the collar appeared wrinkly and tight, and barely passed the one finger test. I took it off, and there was a chafed area under his little fat chin. I felt like the worst mom in the world.
He's been harness-free for a week or so now, and I put little dabs of NeoSporin on his ouch, and that seemed to be okay. He couldn't reach it to lick it off, after all. Since I was buying a new bag of Natural Gold ferret chow anyway, I ordered Marshall's Ferret Wound Aide.
The following issue may not be the fault of the product, or may be just a coincidence, but on the off-chance it is the product causing the problems, I advise you NOT TO BUY THIS PRODUCT.
I put a little on his ouch, and within ten minutes, Woozle collapsed to the floor of his condo, and was almost unresponsive. He lacked muscle tone and was lethargic. He refused Laxatone, which he never does. When placed on the floor, he'd walk a step or two and then immediately "speed bump" and look exhausted. He may have drooled a bit. I ran some cold water and made him rinse out his mouth, which he hated, and washed his neck again under the tap, which he also hated. He showed a little of his old spirit when I got his drying towel down for him to roll in, which usually makes him wild and crazy and full of beans. Though he rolled a bit, he looked like he wanted to do more, but was too tired to keep at it. I called three local vets, and two don't deal with ferrets at all. The third told me that what I was already doing, washing his neck off and talking to him, jostling him a bit, trying to encourage him to drink some water, were all correct. In short, no emergency after-hours care or extended weekend care for ferrets anywhere in my city of neighboring cities. Great. Only one vet who acted like they knew anything about ferrets at all. I made a tentative appointment, since no one else would or could see him anyway, and told them I'd report back either way, whether we were coming in or not. I then prepared for the worst.
While holding him, I got on the laptop and looked up poisonings and symptoms online. From there I found some poison hotlines. One didn't work, the other did. I called the ASPCA Poison Control Hotline, which is a $55 credit card fee, for future reference, but they were very helpful (and you can keep calling them throughout the night without an additional charge, and your vet can consult with the vets at the hotline, too), and reported what he was doing. He regained muscle tone, but was lethargic still, and only moderately responsive. He insisted on sleeping, so I put him in a flannel "envelope" bed-sack and sat him next to me while I was on the phone with doctors. He made noises as I rubbed him that sounded like the mewing calls he used to make right after I adopted him, when he was apparently having bad dreams. Pitiful. I was scared to death.
Again, do not use this product, at least not until my vet clears it as the cause of Woozle's severe negative reaction. He got the tiniest amount on his "outsides" and almost immediately flopped to the ground, drooled, and collapsed. It has a water and alcohol base, a fungicide, an anti-bacterial agent and some lanolin in it, and one, some, or all of these ingredients may have caused anaphalactic shock / poisoning symptoms.
He's almost back to normal now, but it was been eight hours of hell on Friday, and another hour of stress on Saturday, when he didn't appear to be eating, and eight more hours of stress on Sunday. On Friday, he refused food and drink and cried and was chilly to the touch and didn't care that I was touching his belly (he normally begrudges me this) and had slightly glassy eyes. When he got his muscle tone back and looked more alert, he was still worn out and chilly and griping a bit. I put a heating pad next to him so he'd feel the radiant heat but not have it over or under him, and this seemed to help a lot. The house was cold and damp last night, since it has been rainy, When he started exhibiting mild curiosity again (whatcha eatin'? what's that crinkly sound? what's this device you're talking into with the voices coming out of it? If you leave the room, I'm going to sneak out of my snuggly spot and crawl under your blankets on your bed), I was delighted. Sunday, he had a much less dramatic fit, but still looked glassy-eyed and limp and unhappy. I had some sugary stuff on hand this time (darn my diet, I had nothing but some Halowe'en candy for the kids when he spazzed out on Friday, and he can't have any of it; even the pancake syrup was sugar-free), and he refused fruit juice (which is normally a no-no, so he doesn't realize it is okay for him to have some, maybe), and reluctantly let me give him a dab of grape jam. I had absolutely no other non-chocolate sweet stuff in the house. No vets were available. I didn't want to drag him to the 24-hour Kroger while I ran frantically up and down the aisles buying Karo syrup or honey and PediaLyte and PediaSure and stuff, nor did I want to leave him unattended at home.
The ASPCA vet on the Poison Control hotline DID say that he may have insulinoma, and that the Wound Aide product just brought on a fit or it was a complete coincidence, and I just happened to catch him passing out because my schedule was different that Friday (pushed-back deadline for class, was in classroom building rather than elsewhere). I ended up not eating until after midnight, because I forgot I hadn't until I, too, started feeling faint and crabby and weak. Two mammals with hypoglycaemia under one roof is two too many.
Seems like if he was having insulinoma spells before, though, I'd see them. I either have him near me or he's in the kitchen and I check on him every half hour to an hour just by naturally going back in there to refill my drink or make dinner or get a snack or get some fresh ice. I always take him out and hold him when I do, or let him play on the floor while I make dinner. He often plays in the bathroom when I'm preparing to go out or know I'll be in there a while, too. I hate to say it, but I've been monitoring him for a while, and something else does appear to be off. He lost more fur than usual this summer, and his tail fur is still sparse, but not exactly rat-tail-like. He feels bonier to me, but has had his usual diet. I did try to introduce a new kitten chow that was recommended by ferret websites online, but he hated it. Still, SOMEone is eating the usual amount of food each day, even if he's picking out the flavours he likes and spitting out the despised kitten food. He's of the right age for insulinoma, since he's probably about 5-6 years old. His belly may have larger lumps inside than I'm used to feeling, though it is hard to tell if that is because of summer weight loss or something more sinister. He does get natural light from the kitchen window, but he also sometimes gets light at night while I'm up. He can avoid it by going inside his box or down to the bottom floor or into his sleepsack on the top floor, and sometimes he does those things.
He's back to his normal self at the moment, but I'm going to be monitoring him closely. I didn't have any Pedialyte or Karo in the house, and with me on a diet, the only sugar was either granulated white or chocolate-y Hallowe'en candy. So I need to add those to my shopping list. Even the pancake syrup in the house was diet / sugarfree. He refused a taste of an all-natural fruit smoothie. He refused a lick of grape jelly, only other sugary thing I had on hand besides chocolate syrup, or flavoured booze like Kahlua, both of which would be bad ideas. He doesn't get fed candy or much human food and doesn't care much for raisins. Occasionally I'll cave and let him have half a piece of Life cereal or a couple of balls of Kix or a lick of yoghurt, but never anything much or often. He gets Bandits on occasion, too, but doesn't really care about them much. He eats them to be polite, or takes them courteously and then trots off to bury them under his "sleeping donut".
If he has hypoglycaemia, at least I know exactly how he feels, and it sucks. I have it. I've fainted and had spells and felt like ass before, too.
He's definitely skinnier than I like, his boo-boo is better but shouldn't have happened (the collar appears to have shrunk somehow, like something thrown in a dryer, and is "wavy" and lumpy, and he does like sticking his head under his waterbottle and soaking his head and back in the resulting flood). It's officially a cat collar, and no warnings about it possibly shrinking when wet were mentioned. The clasps were also hard to adjust. Not buying collars online again. It was cheap, but not worth the new problems.
If he has insulinoma, I have no experience with treating it. He doesn't really like Duk Soup, alas. When he's ill, he won't take in stuff he doesn't like much, just to please me. He tries tastes of things when he's feeling good, or if he thinks another animal is getting more of something than he is getting, but never when he actually feels bad. Ugh. I'm often at school for most of the day, so I'm not home to monitor him, and I'm worried he's been having fits I haven't seen, IF it is insulinoma and not just the typical summer weight loss and fur change. He typically does his molt and fattening-up in Sept / Oct, as our hottest month is August. But he should be getting fat and fuzzy again by now. This is a long time to be skinny and to have a less-than-fully-furred tail. It's not patching up his back or looking ratty, just the typical shedding-time sparseness. Is he eating less food than I think? *worry, worry, worry*
I debated about whether to bring him in on Saturday morning, when he was perking along and was no longer showing symptoms, and I should have taken him in. I forgot that most vets are closed on Sundays. Sure enough, he had another spell, and I felt like crap. I didn't want to stress him out worse if it was a single event, but it is looking like an underlying illness. He's feeling spunky again, and is full of mischief and not particularly cuddly (as is normal; he loves his mom, but he likes getting into trouble more than cuddling with me). When he's sick, he can't get close enough to me, and I have a ferret draped around my neck, over an arm, next to my hip or in my lap at all times where I can reach him and pet him.
The only bright side to all this trauma and angst is that I was home at the time it happened, if it is insulinoma and not a poisoning. (If the latter, then I inadvertently CAUSED it, by trusting a Marshall's product I knew little about, argh! *guilt*). I had just turned in a huge school project and have a breather until Monday. All I was looking forward to was watching "House," which I missed, actually, busily focusing on Woozle.
I know he's "old" for a ferret. I'm just not ready to lose him, yet. I hope he is spared an insulinoma and that this was an isolated poisoning instance. I can easily avoid using the bad product again. When I do go to see the vet, I'll tell them they can have it, but to use it very carefully. I can't imagine that Marshall's would sell it if ALL ferrets drool and go limp when it touches them. Mine isn't going to have any of it again, though, unless the vet confirms absolutely that it was a coincidence that he had a fit in front of me after getting a tiny dose of the Marshall's antibiotic stuff.
All the drooling and limpness and glassy eyes sure put a tiny chafed spot on his neck into perspective quickly. I have a touch of hypoglycaemia, and that's what happens to me when my blood sugar drops. I empathize with the little guy. I know how miserable and weak he feels when his blood sugar bottoms out. The danger is, however, that what I could recover from, he might not. Low blood sugar fits are harder on you when you weigh less than three pounds, and he could have seizures if it is insulinoma and not treated..
Anyone with ferrets: do you have insulinoma advice?
Send Mr Woozle some positive vibes, as he's had a crappy weekend and has felt bad approximately every twelve hours or so, especially after being out to play. He's with me in the radio station tonight and seems to be his old self, but he had another small fit today, so I'm now leaning towards it being insulinoma, which is bad news. A poisoning would be traumatic, but at least it wouldn't be an ongoing issue. *sigh* The vet's office opens at 7AM, and I'm already planning to just deejay as long as I can, grab some breakfast, drive straight to the vet's rather than home, then sit with Mr Woozle in the parking lot until the doors open.
*worry, worry*