# Ferret coughing?



## Lilly_xo (Sep 22, 2020)

Hello

I’m hoping someone can give me some advice! I’m a new ferret owner (I researched them for 8 years before purchasing) and I’ve had my boys for just over a year now. My smallest boy developed a cough recently, so I took him to the vet and the vet said his heart and lungs sounded fine and gave us some anti inflammatories, which helped immensely and stopped the cough.

A few days after the end of the course of meds I fed them some of their favourite food (chicken and salmon 80/10/10) and the cough started up again. The vets are saying they want £400 for sedation and xrays, which I have no problem paying for as he’s one of the best things in my life, but under current circumstances I would like to make sure that this is absolutely necessary and that there’s not something else I can do to help my little guy.

The others are absolutely fine, which leads me to believe that it could be allergy related?

Thanks so much for any replies


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## Patchwork Petcare (Oct 2, 2020)

Sorry if my reply is too late! It does sound like it could possibly be allergy related. Are there any other symptoms like sneezing, gagging or discharge from eyes/nose? And have you noticed whether it happens after any specific meat type? If it seems random it could also be a reaction to something in your home, like dust, scents, cleaning products etc. I'd definitely ask your vet if they see any other signs of possible allergies and get their opinion on finding out the cause. Although since its been a while I'm assuming you've probably been back to the vet already. Hope you can find and solve the problem!


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## Lilly_xo (Sep 22, 2020)

Patchwork Petcare said:


> Sorry if my reply is too late! It does sound like it could possibly be allergy related. Are there any other symptoms like sneezing, gagging or discharge from eyes/nose? And have you noticed whether it happens after any specific meat type? If it seems random it could also be a reaction to something in your home, like dust, scents, cleaning products etc. I'd definitely ask your vet if they see any other signs of possible allergies and get their opinion on finding out the cause. Although since its been a while I'm assuming you've probably been back to the vet already. Hope you can find and solve the problem!


Thanks so much for the reply! I've noticed that it got worse after feeding salmon/salmon oil and if I don't hoover the cage/around the cage at least once a week and if we use aerosols in the house (we stopped that as soon as the cough started but sometimes my mum forgets ) there's no discharge or gagging, he doesn't bring anything up when he coughs (it's quite a dry cough) and I only use vinegar and water to clean their cage and non-bio wash stuff to wash their hammocks (I use the anti allergy wash option as well) they have recycled newspaper litter which isn't overly dusty (if there's a less dusty non-fragrant option I would be more than open to suggestions!)

I unfortunately haven't been able to get an appointment at the vet as of yet (they're really busy at the moment due to the threat of a second lockdown but we seem to have the coughing mostly under control) so again any advice or opinions are super helpful!

thanks again


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## Patchwork Petcare (Oct 2, 2020)

That's great to hear you have it more under control now. Absolutely, ferrets are very sensitive to aerosols so its great that you've stopped that. Same goes for diffusers, candles, perfumes, scented detergents etc. so the less you have of these the better. If you think the litter could be a contributing factor, you could train them onto puppy training pads instead, completely dust free (just make sure they aren't scented or include "attractant"). It's a shame that he can't have the salmon, but better than a poultry allergy! Might be worth trying small amounts of different fish or mussels to see if he is ok with alternatives.

Hope you can get an appointment soon. good luck!


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