Well I hang my head in shame

For the past 17 years I haven’t had any problems with my ferrets’ teeth. In fact, my vet has always complimented me on the great condition of all my guys’ teeth so when Seamus stopped eating his kibble, it never occurred to me that he might have problems with his tooth, or teeth even!

I wrote about Seamus’ glaucoma a couple of months ago and for those of you who didn’t read the article, you can see his blind right eye again in this photo …

I get a lot of emails from new and old-time ferret owners at my site asking me various questions about their ferrets, mainly asking for advice on what to do when their ferret is sick or asking questions about breeding.

Then a couple of years ago I read about Ferret Health Advancement at MSU.  Dr Matti Kiupel was doing a lot of research in a number of ferret illnesses, like coronaviruses, rotaviruses & coccidiosis. He’s also working with David Wilson researching the prognostication and carcinogenesis of adrenal cortical neoplasms. But, of course, with all things, money is necessary to further the research for these diseases so the department also has a page for donations.

At the beginning of this year I noticed that Seamus’ right eye was bulging slightly so we went to my vet for a check-up. The diagnosis was glaucoma There’s nothing that can be done for that and, as a blind ferret is not a handicapped ferret, it didn’t upset me too much to hear that he had it.

Chucky, my first male, developed cataracts when he was about 6 years old and it didn’t stop him from racing around the house. I guess if there was something on the floor which shouldn’t have been there he might have bumped into it but for the most part, he was pretty good at navigating around the house.

As you know, I’m giving both Angus and Seamus a daily dose each of DHA Omega and it’s obviously helping Seamus, since I can see how he’s perked up since I’ve been giving it to him. Angus has always been full of beans so I can’t state categorically that it’s helping him but I hope it is shrinking his adrenal tumours so that he’ll be with me for many more years!

Since then, I’ve been told about coconut oil being good for pets.

Take a look …. don’t you think he’s looking a whole lot better?

This is the before shot, taken a couple of weeks ago …

and this photo was taken this morning …

As you can see, he’s lost that translucent skin but now he has a yellowish tinge to both his skin and his fur. I don’t know if that is due to the fact that his hair is growing back slowly or if it’s because of the DHA Omega I’m giving him.