Dehydration

[kmcquerrey]

Hi,

I haven't had any older ferrets, so I am a little unfamiliar with some of their needs. I have one guy that was dumped, so I don't know his real age. The vet thinks he is around 5yrs. Once before he got dehydrated and would not drink anything. When he started puking and could barely move, I rushed him to be hospitalized. 3 days and almost $500 later, they couldn't find anything wrong. I have since had him 5 months. Occasional (like yesterday), he will sleep many hours. I finally woke him up after he had been asleep about 8 hours. He doesn't even wake up to potty. He seemed lethargic and kept liking his chops. After some coaxing, he finally drank some water and then sprang right back to life. Should I periodically wake him up and try to get him to drink? It makes me nervous because when I'm at work, nobody is there to check on him. Thank you for any advice.

[ferretgal45]

I'm assuming the vet ran blood tests? Did they check for blockage, bladder infection? I would suggest you call Bobbi and get her thoughts ASAP. Insulinoma was my first thought, but it could be so many other things too, ulcers, kidneys, etc. Please keep us updated. You might want to try another vet to get a 2nd look.

Will be thinking of you and your baby

[kmcquerrey]

Thanks.
The vet did run a bunch of tests, but I don't know for sure that a blood test was run. I will check with Bobbi. It happens pretty rarely, about once every 2 months, so I hate to pay for more tests. If it were a daily occurence, that would be different.

[staceylamb]

hmmm... I have an older girl that gets dehydrated easily... like she just forgets to drink sometimes! To help keep her hydrated, I freeze unflavored pedialyte into ice cubes, and then put an ice cube in a dish for her to "play" with. Please call or post when you have an emergency, and maybe one of can give you some ideas to save you an expensive er visit. (its a total crap shoot on whether you will get a ferret-knowledgable vet or not....)
Keep us updated!
Stacey

[ferretgal45]

Thanks for posting Stacey.......I didn't even think about the pedialyte.

Fuzzy hugs