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Post by Alliemegan on May 19, 2009 21:20:38 GMT -5
BTW how's Napolean and his toofie? Did he go for teeth cleaning? Extra hugs and tickles for the little man. I hope they can clean up his molar with minimal sedation. Our vet tells us that ferrets do amazingly well with anesthetics but I still get nervous every time they go under. The weather is beautiful (I heard... I haven't been outside ) Hope your business is having fun in their outdoors digs!
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Post by Heather on May 19, 2009 23:13:24 GMT -5
I'm terrified about putting these little guys under. Your vet must have the knack or done it often enough he knows exactly what to do. None of the vets out here are really comfortable with anesthetics. When we took Napoleon in initially, the vet had some real concerns that Napoleon had a bad heart. She was really concerned because the rate was so slow, he was too relaxed. It turns out that his heart is fine...Napoleon is just a very relaxed little dude Napoleon was a real little trouper. They put him under a mild sedation (mild enough that when they started cleaning his teeth with the water pik...he got up and left , he hated getting water up his nose) It turned out that the very back molar had been badly damaged at some point. The root on the one side was totally severed. He laid there and let her cut through the other 3 roots (tethered on each corner) and pull his tooth. He never tried to bite them or wiggle too much. I held him throughout the proceedure and rubbed his belly. He's presently on antibiotics, but the lack of the molar hasn't stopped him from hunting or eating his favourite foods. My guys are really enjoying all this time that they've been allowed to play outside. I let them play in the rain on Sat. I had a whole business of very wet smelly ferts How's your cold...getting better I hope. How's Merry and Gadget doing? Is Merry's BS showing any signs of stabalizing? Is Gadget improving now that he's getting antibiotics? Take care of yourself, give your furbabies a big hug. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on May 20, 2009 8:35:50 GMT -5
Oh I wrote you an update on the kids... A long one at that. I though it disappeared into the cyber-blackhole again but it was actually on the bottom of the last page (p.14) I thought of Napolean's tooth afterwards and threw in another post. Sorry about the confusion Oh I'm so relieved that Napolean did so well at the vet and his toofies are not hurting him anymore! I don't blame him walking out on the water pik. Who likes getting water up his nose? He's a fert of principle What kind of sedation did they use on Napolean? Maybe I can suggest it to our vet next time. Merry and Gadget both fight terribly when they just try to draw blood at the vet's. I feel awful every time Mer ends up with a big red mark on his scruff when we try to restrain him. I begged our vet to just give Gadget some isoflurane when we need bloodd from him last. We needed 2 full tubes of blood for the tests but all we got was a drop after we poked him 4 times. He was really stressed out and his heart was racing so fast I thought he's going to get a heart attack. We ended up gassing him and got the job done. I know he's in good hands but i'd rather not have to do that. Maybe I should send these guys over to meditate with Zen Master Napolean so they can learn how to chill My cold turns out to be more like a flu. Hubby and I went to see my acupuncturist and she told us the best way to kill the germs is garlic soup.... strong stuff. A whole bulb of garlic in 2 cups of water. Smell amazing when it's cooking. Doesn't taste like much when you drink it (m nose is stuffy) But it leaves my breath incredibly stinky afterwards... yes, I noticed that through my stuffy nose! At least both hubby an I are drinking it together and we're not expecting civil company any time soon... There's just not enough breath mints in the house! Merry's BG dipped quite low this morning so we gave him a bit of honey water. Hope that's enough to give him a bit of a boost. I'm starting to notice a pattern... he actually becomes MORE active and alert when his sugars are too low. Maybe it's a fight or flight response or something... it makes no sense to me but that's what I'd noticed... should bring that up with the vet. It's going to be a summer-like day. I'm sure the kids are going to have another great day outside! Wll check in with you later!
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Post by Heather on May 20, 2009 23:52:12 GMT -5
I will ask my vet...it does put them out to a degree, but it's not deep. Odin was under deeper than Napoleon...of course they were only expecting to clean Napoleon's teeth...not pull one out. I would think to draw blood it might indeed work very well. I know that my previous vet used something like this to pull blood (her techs were scared of the ferrets and their clinic wouldn't let me go into the back rooms to help out). It would put them out only for about 10 min. and not very deep. Wow, you've been sick....maybe that's what was wrong with Gadget? I hope he continues to improve and that you find that it was a simple infection. Is Merry's activity before the crash, random....that's not the word I'm looking for but more like when they're looking for a litter box but can't seem to find that spot for the deposit. Desperate . It may look like roughing or playing but in truth he knows somethings wrong but doesn't know what to do. I really hope that you find a solution to this. Take care of yourselves, don't scare those fuzzies too badly Hope you get better soon. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on May 21, 2009 19:53:47 GMT -5
Oh sh*t... Merry caught my flu! Last night I picked him up from his nap spot behind the couch to put him down for the night. He was burning up a little lump of charcoal! He opened his eyes, looked at me and let out a huge sneeze... right in my face! His nose is definitely stuffy, and you can hear the mucous percolating as he breathes. I didn't know what to do... I was frantic! But at least I knew better than to run him to Emerg. (It did cross my mind. Then I remember they're useless when it comes to ferrets ) We just gave him some sub-q fluids and put him to bed on his own. Got a hold of our vet on the phone this morning and he worries that since Mer is on an immunosuppressant, he might not be able to fight of any secondary infection that the flu might cause. So Mer is sharing Gadget's Baytril until next week. Mer doesn't see to be doing too badly. He's eating well and we're making his chicken a little more soupy to make sure he's hydrated. We're more worried about his blood glucose... it'd been low and his new meds are still not here. I'm giving him honey way more frequent than I like but it's either that or he crashes. I think I know what you mean about Merry's higher activity level before a crash. It's like, he's feeling weird but he doesn't know what to do... kind of freaking out a little bit. I'm imagining his thought bubble "Hmm... this feels weird. I know this feeling. I had this before... OMG... I think I'm going to pass out... uh-oh... what do I do now... do I go lie down? Do I go get my human? OMG OMG OMG..." It kinda make sense. It's one more sign we can watch out for for immenent crashes. Gadget seems to be doing okay. He's playing with Tassy but most times he's just napping with Merry. We're going to bring him in for another x-ray next week and see what happens. With half the family sick, we're just going to call it a night early. Thank goodness it's Friday. It's been a rotten week. Hopefully next week would be better. Check in with you later!
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Post by Heather on May 22, 2009 0:11:37 GMT -5
Ohhh poor Merry. I'm going to light a healing candle for him...poor little boy. With him on the max dose of pred, his immune system just was totally unable to handle fighting off the virus. Don't blame yourself, he's going to have major difficulty fighting any infection. I hope with the antibiotics he will be able to fight off this infection and prevent a secondary infection from taking hold. If Gadget has pneumonia, sleeping is something he has to do to heal...speaking from experience here. The exhaustion lasts long after the disease appears to be gone. There is a reason why it's one of the most feared diseases for anyone with a suppressed immune system. Gadget's sleeping is actually helping him to heal, if the diagnosis is pneumonia. I hope that you are all feeling better soon. Enjoy some sunshine, relax and try and get better. I will check in on you tomorrow. If you don't check in, have a great weekend...and look after yourselves. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on May 23, 2009 9:15:38 GMT -5
Merry is doing a little better today. He's fever had gone down but his nose is still stuffy. My poor baby...on the bright side, as sick as he is, busting out of the cage is still his number one priority! He's still performing his death-defying stunt of "Jumping to Mommy" - I feed him on the second level of our FN cage. Sometimes I leave the door open to grab a Kleenex to wipe his chin or something. When I turn back to him, he'd be stand right at the edge of the cage, ready to jump towards me.... he was doing that today. At least he still has the energy to think about escaping Is there anything I can do to help Mer's stuffy nose? I'm putting the humidifier on for him (hubby is jealous... I didn't break out the humidifier for him when he was, and still is, sick ) I don't think you can use Vick's vapour rub on a ferret We're just going to lay low again for the weekend. Check in with you later!
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Post by Heather on May 23, 2009 18:05:39 GMT -5
Don't use vicks...it's been proven that it causes congestion in small children so don't use it on Merry. The vaporizer might help, it certainly can't hurt. I've honestly not found anything that seems to work for the poor little ones that is safe to use. Having enough energy to escape is indeed a bonus...a little heartstopping but good Take care of yourselves and your little ones. Get better soon, enjoy your weekend. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on May 24, 2009 16:08:23 GMT -5
Merry seem to be feeling crappier today. He gets tired easily. He speedbumped 3 times before he make it from the back to the front of the house. But when we checked his blood sugar, it was a whopping 4.7 mmol/L, it's actually within normal range andhighest he'd been for weeks. I guess he's maintaining his BG when all he does is sleep. He's eating really well, which I didn't expect. It's kinda funny to see him trying to wolf down chicken and breathe through his mouth at the same time Gadget is getting a bit sniffle-y. I worry that he's coming down with the flu too. that's exactly what he doesn't need right now. With his decreased lung capacity... Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Check in with you later!
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Post by Heather on May 24, 2009 23:11:50 GMT -5
That's the problem with the flu....even when you're on antibiotics you get the cold Hopefully, with the antibiotics at least Gadget won't probably get a secondary infection...small favours . Perhaps, Merry's finally getting a handle on his BG...I hope so. I know he must be feeling crappy not being able to breathe but it looks like he might actually be feeling better. Get better guys....I will check with you later. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on May 25, 2009 22:42:33 GMT -5
Another ferret down... Gadget got the flu too! He got a seriously runny nose and tonight was the first time in his life he didn't finish his dinner On the bright side, from his x-ray today, he's actually getting better. Our vet thinks he probably had an infection and there might be some scarring in his lungs, but it's better than cancer! Gadget is going to be on Baytril for another 3 weeks just to make sure that whatever infection he has is gone. Merry is still pretty flat today but his lungs sound fine. But we're keeping him on Baytril just in case. There's not much we can do about the flu virus but we gotta protect him from secondary infections at all costs or he's toast. All we can do now is keep him hydrated and make sure he eats. It'd been really hard for us to get a BG reading on him the last couple of days. I think Mer is onto us. The usualy ferretone bribe is not enough to distract him anymore. He's just squirming to get away... Tassy is still doing fine. But it's almost just a matter of time before he's going to get the flu too. <sigh> Will check in with you later!
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Post by Heather on May 25, 2009 22:51:49 GMT -5
Poor babies....healing candles are lit for everyone...one is lit for Tassy in hopes that the flu bug never gets him...you run little one Take care of yourself and your furbabies. I will keep checking in to see how you're doing. {{{Cyberhugs}}}to you and your guys...get well soon ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Jul 25, 2009 16:55:47 GMT -5
It's been a long while since we're here. A lot had happened since the last post. We'd lost Merry to pneumonia. We moved to our new house, unfortunately without Mer. And then there were two... Gadget has a stubborn chest infection. And Tassy... well, he's staying healthy! At least we're don't have to worry about him!
The twosome are doing well in their new place. They love to run up and down the stairs and sleep in the ensuite bathroom. We'd rediscovered the wonders of feeding boxes! Before when we fed them in the cage, they get all distracted by everything around them. Now we just plonk them each in their box with their bowls, 5 mins later, they re-emerge and we go collect the empty bowls.
We didn't end up taking in any foster kids from FAS coz our vet still consider Gadget to be immuno-compromised and we want to make sure that he doesn't get anything else from the fosters. Gadgy had been getting repeated x-rays to monitor his chest infection. It's slowly looking better but he's not out of the woods yet. He'll be on antibiotics for at least another 6 weeks. We're also worried about his weight. He's a lot of belly fat and he has fat pads around his neck. Poley had the same belly fat problem and alarm bell just goes off in my head... not another right adrenal. We're getting a deslorelin implant for Gadget (from the same drug release application we put in for Poley a few months ago.)
Have a great weekend! Stay dry! I'll post some picts of the silly goobers in their new place soon!
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Post by Heather on Jul 25, 2009 22:47:03 GMT -5
It's so good to see you back. Sounds like the feeding thing is going well Have you tried any new meats? Feeding dens are awesome Ferrets really are the real deal in ADHD , unless they're trying to get into trouble. Fun-Go is presently "in" my sofa...I got tired of hawling his sorry a** out of there. I guess he will come out when he's hungry Your vet is probably right about the immune thing and as far as you've described previously, you still haven't quite pinned down what the problem is....some fair guesses but nothing difinitive....right? Is it possible that Gadget is "puffy" because of the meds he's on. Has your vet considered a diaretic, which might help him move some of that "excess" flub. You're doing xrays so it's not a heart problem? It's so great to have you back Give your furbabies a great big hug and I'm so looking forward to some photos. Have a great weekend, let the guys play in the puddles ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Jul 26, 2009 22:17:31 GMT -5
We're thawing some rabbit pucks we have in the freezer and see if the guys would give it another go... although I'm kinda worry that they might like it too much. Rabbits are not cheap! But I guess they deserve a treat once in a while... but I'll worry about that when they actually TRY some of the fancy meat Gadget is getting x-rayed every few weeks. We don't think it's his heart. We're treating him based on the assumption that he has the same thing Merry had, so Gadget's on Baytril for the last 8 weeks. In every x-ray, his lungs looks better then the last one. Although hubby and I joked that it might be all the radiation he's getting that's killing the germs, not the antibiotics Baytril is the only med Gadget is on and I don't think it gives them edema. But I'll bring up the diuretic with our vet next time we chat. Our new computer just came in on Friday (Giant imac, I love you!). We haven't got any of the files transferred to the new machine yet, but I'll post picts ASAP. Don't even joke about letting the kids play in the puddles! Thank goodness the ferrets hadn't got a chance to see the backyard yet. The cats, however, had been asking non-stop to go out into the rain. What's up with that??? I thought they don't like water It's good to be back. Thanks for being so patient with us. Have a good week. Talk to you soon!
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