And it’s GREAT to be home! Even though I had a fabulous time with my sister and brother-in-law, I am so happy to be back with my family and my animals!

The dog almost knocked me over when we opened the front door and it was so funny to see the ferrets when I called their names. They all came rushing out of the bedroom and stood looking at me, as if trying to remember who I was ;-)

Muis and Kahlua tried to climb up my jeans, while Seamus and Angus just sniffed at my shoes. Then I took one look at Kaos and panic set in … she seemed to have weak back legs and her belly was terribly taut and swollen. Philip said that she started to look fat just a few days before I got back but that she hadn’t been as bad as she was then.

So … no time to get over my jetlag. The next day I called the vet, took her down and had to leave her for x-rays. When I called back my vet said it was only fluid in her stomach (ONLY fluid …! Mind you, I was worried it might have been a tumor) so she’d taken a biopsy and was sending it off to the lab to find out what the problem was.

Had a call yesterday to say that Kaos has cardiomyopathy!

I guess I should be happy it’s not cancer, but this is the first ferret that I’ve had with a heart condition :-(

She’s on diuretics to be administered twice a day and if she doesn’t improve considerably, then we have to put her on digitalis.

What a welcome home present!

However, the good thing is that her stomach was looking less taut at the weekend and when I stroked her back, her spine didn’t feel so bony, so obviously she’s eating well. She seems pretty bright eyed and bushy tailed, all things considered, and she still comes up onto the bed to cuddle us at night so I have fingers crossed that she’ll be with us for quite a while still.

I’ll be taking pictures of her stomach and putting them up, as well as writing about how she’s getting on as the days go by in the hope that it might be of some help to other people who have ferrets with the same problem,

Stay tuned ….!

PS … Not only did I not see a ferret while in France, everyone I asked about ferrets thought I was mad! The usual remark was “Ferrets? You like FERRETS?? You have ferrets as pets?? My God!”

Ah well – they don’t know what they’re missing! ;-) )

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Filed under: Cardiomyopathy • Ferret Health • Ferret Illnesses

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