# Confused



## Sandberg (Jun 9, 2014)

So today i went outside to give fresh food/ water to my ferrets and noticed one of the females was almost lifeless, shes usually the most hyperactive and eager one to move around and explore the second the doors open, today she couldnt even be bothered to try stand up after waking up and picking her up and holding her seemed off, she doesnt want to move at all and making odd noises when you stroke her with her breathing. she also seems really skinny down her back end then usual. not sure what to do ofcourse, kinda want to get a rough idea of whats wrong with her before going to the vets because im currently skint :nonod:


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

I would say from the description that she needs to see a vet as soon as possible, they can go downhill very quickly. I had Maggee at the vets this week for similar symptoms (apart from the weight loss), she needed fluids and a couple of shots of antibiotics, without those I doubt she would have survived .
The fact that she's making noises when you hold her can also be a sign of pain, I really think she does need a vet to look at her.


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## DKDREAM (Sep 15, 2008)

I agree with the above, she needs to see a vet


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## Sandberg (Jun 9, 2014)

Will try to make a vet appointment tomorrow which i hate as they charge you almost £50 just to look at your pet and nothing else 
but yeah further update
she seems to always seem like shes tired, if you give her some food she'll eat it then mid bite stop close her eyes and lay down like shes about to sleep
so having to keep her awake to eat and giving her water with a plastic syringe is proving to work slightly perking her up a little

any idea on what the symptoms are? i heard ferrets can get a cold / human cold which can prove to be quiet bad for them

at first i figured heat stroke as we have left them outside in the hutch for the nice warm day and noticed one had fallen asleep in the sun instead of the inside bed (which was the day before we noticed she had suddenly gone into this state)


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## DKDREAM (Sep 15, 2008)

have you got any lactol in? this may give her some energy, what you describe could be a number of things, how old is she?


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## DKDREAM (Sep 15, 2008)

where abouts are you? we may know of vets in your area who are cheaper for consultations.


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## Sandberg (Jun 9, 2014)

how old is she err 4 i think or 3, not to sure its been too long.
and eastbourne (far south UK)


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## DKDREAM (Sep 15, 2008)

I would ring about vets in your area and ask the price to see her, or would they be all the same. I just worry it maybe some type of cancer if its been a sudden change.


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## Sandberg (Jun 9, 2014)

I thought maybe cancer but doesnt seem like the signs of it are fully there, she will eat or drink if you place it infront of her she just doesnt seem to want to be active and would rather sleep than interact at all but ill try phone around tomorrow, sadly im skint so its very unlikely that ill be able to take her to the vet, they're all way to expensive nowadays it was like my first ferret had a ear infection which caused it to be off balance and fall over alot, i ended up spending £300 in vet bills for all the injections and appointments only for it to pass away 2 days later, doesnt help that non of the vets in this area know anything about ferrets.


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## DKDREAM (Sep 15, 2008)

You could try and get fluids into her, have you felt her stomach, keep her warm, could you bring her inside? have you checked her mouth? as sometimes they can get bones stuck in teeth, if this happens they find it difficult to eat/drink then will dehydrate, as you will know they can go down hill very quickly


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## DKDREAM (Sep 15, 2008)

is she neutered?


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## Sandberg (Jun 9, 2014)

You could try and get fluids into her, have you felt her stomach, keep her warm, could you bring her inside? have you checked her mouth? as sometimes they can get bones stuck in teeth, if this happens they find it difficult to eat/drink then will dehydrate, as you will know they can go down hill very quickly


Giving her water via plastic syringe every few hours, stomach feels fine just really skinny on the back end, if anything i wouldnt want to keep her warm shes really hot as it is, overheating if anything, cant bring her inside the cats will annoy her and no inside cage or anything just got a big outside one with a thermal blanket over it to keep it super warm if its cold

ill check her mouth in the morning and gums as someone mentioned about gum color


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## Quarissamin (Jun 9, 2014)

Hi do you not have pdsa that can help you near you or if your not on housing benifit (as you need to be on that to see them) there are a lot of charities that help with vet bills I dont know how they work but maybe you could look into them, im in the same boat vet bill are so high they make it very hard for you, I really hope the poor baby makes it , your doing the best you can you oviously love her dearly best wishes &#9829;


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## Sandberg (Jun 9, 2014)

few small updates, shes able to use the litter tray fine, has watery eyes today 
eats if we present food to her (ferret food and raw chicken)
drinks if we offer it, if we feels she doesnt drink enough we'll give her more via plastic syringe, will look into pdsa and no vet will give an estimate price which is annoying the second we take her in they will just inject her then suggest we do this and that and then that will quickly rack up to a huge bill so vets is really not something i can do atm which i feel terrible for.

ok got my sister to phone the pdsa, they redirected us to the vets who redirected to ferret protection who redirected to another ferret place who gave us some glucose? solution to let her drink to see if that works for dehydration, 
she doesnt seem to want to walk or move, if you put her on the floor she wont attempt to walk to a comfy spot but would just rather lay there and go back to sleep, and her left eye is closed (i assume from all the watery eye drying up

all places like vets etc said it would cost £30 before they even look at the ferret and possibly up to £80 if they decide to inject her and maybe up to nearly 200 if they need to xray, was never this expensive before w/ my rabbit.

shes not really in the mood to even be forced fed water, and seems like shes struggling to eat / almost choking almost as to assume she has something stuck in her throat which leads me to believe a tumor (which is one my prev rabbit died of)


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Just wanting to double check, is she a neutered female or is she still unneutered?


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## Sandberg (Jun 9, 2014)

unneutered, get injections whenever needed to bring her out of it


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