Insulinoma? Epilepsy? An aberration?
Monday, October 20th, 2008 at
8:38 am
Am just back from seeing Fiona, my vet, and she doesn’t know what’s wrong with Muis
This morning, I came into the bedroom and saw her looking strange while in the bottom of the chest of drawers. I picked her up and put her on our bed and she seemed to stagger a bit then fell over before righting herself.
It was one of those “OH NO!” moments so I called Philip and asked him to have a look at her, to see if he had any ideas. He agreed her back legs didn’t seem to be working properly so I picked her up and put her into the drawer where she sleeps.
I went to the kitchen and fixed up their smoothy, calling them while I was doing it, and both Angus and Muis came roaring into the kitchen, licking their lips. They followed me back to the bedroom where I put the dish down for them, and got stuck into the smoothy with great gusto.
It was such a change from just a few minutes ago and I felt quite relieved that Muis had reacted so positively. If I hadn’t seen her strange behaviour beforehand, I wouldn’t have thought there was a thing wrong with her as she acted 100% normal.
When I told my vet I was worried about what happened being a symptom of insulinoma, she said that if it was insulinoma, Muis wouldn’t have come racing into the kitchen – she would have been tucked up in the drawer until I put her in front of the smoothy.
She checked Muis’s stomach and there was no evidence that anything hurt her when Fiona pressed on certain organs. A good sign, I hope!
Fiona thought that it could be a neurological problem, something like epilepsy, so I was told to keep a diary handy of anything odd which I notice in Muis’s behaviour and that way she will have a better idea of what specific tests need to be done otherwise it will be a lot of money for lots of tests.
I hope it’s not insulinoma, having had my gorgeous CJ die from that 6 years ago, and I also hope it’s not anything neurological. Maybe it was heat stroke or something which made her feel funny, as it’s been a really hot day today, but since she’s always inside the house, I can’t imagine that being the cause.
Well, I will keep you posted if there is something wrong and then at least it will be a step-by-step description of the onset of a disease which hopefully will help other ferret owners in the future.
This really is the part of ferret ownership which I hate! The ominous feeling that your ferret is sick and there’s really nothing you can do to help make it better. Bah humbug
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Tagged with: Ferrets as Pets • insulinoma
Filed under: Ferret Health • Ferret Illnesses • Insulinoma in Ferrets
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Oh JC – I am so sorry to hear about Zoie.
It really is horrible when a ferret gets sick and I wish I could do something – like wave a magic wand and make them all better – but … unfortunately … I can’t
Thank goodness Zoie has a wonderful mother who cares about her and who does everything to help her. At least she knows that you love her and that must surely make a difference.
Hi Nona.
Jc here. I for one know what you must be feeling. I'm watching my 8 year old Zoie day & night. She's been real sick & has to be hand fed every 4 hr. & given her meds. The vet said it sounded like it's in her lungs.
As for losing a baby to insulinoma I lost my Fluffy to that.
My fingers are crossed right along with yours. My Prayers are with you & Muis as well.
As for the change in diet I know these guy's do react to it, All my kids did a month or so ago when I ran out of the Wysong & had to feed them a diffenet type of food till the order got here, they all seemed out of it. Along with the stress of bring a new comer in (Ice)
Hi Bill
No, Muis has acting totally normal since coming home. She gave me oodles of kisses when I went to pick her up, more so than the others, and all of them did a lot of weasel wardancing when they got into the house but since then she’s been acting like she did before I went away.
I really hope it’s a once off scare – I’ve been watching her like a hawk and she seems perfectly normal now so fingers crossed she stays that way
NONA
The food switch could very well
be the trouble, i have found that fish and ferrets do not mix that well.
And the added stress of missing you and unfamiliar surroundings definitely dose not help,
my experience with stress: it dose not always directly show its self in ferrets some times it slowly comes forward.
But no 2 ferrets are ever a like. So it really makes it hard to pin down problems with ferrets.
STRESS..Qs For you..
Q.Dose she seem irritable,uneasy or jumpy?
Q.Is she more quite a normal?
Q.peeing more than normal?
Q.wonder around slowly or hunch down and stop very often listening to her surroundings?
Q.Is her belly puffed up? bloated
Q.tries to keep you in sight or follow you a round more often?
These can all be signs of stress.
Sorry for all the questions Nona, but its like your crew is part of ourown zoo crew. and stress is really hard on ferrets.
Hi Katie
I’m really pleased that you enjoy my blog – thanks for taking the time to write
Yes, I confess that I was pretty frightened when I saw Muis keel over and I really hope that it wasn’t a sign of anything awful! Fingers crossed!
Please give Bubbles a big hug from all his/her new friends down under!
Cheers
Thanks so much for your advice, Bill
There’s no change in her present food intake but when we were away, the lady who looked after the gang did give them a different type of Iams – it was the fish one, instead of the normal chicken one I give them.
My vet said that Muis had lost weight since June so I wonder if she was (a) fretting because we were away and she was in a new environment, or (b) the fish food didn’t appeal to her and she didn’t eat as much and is only now putting her weight back on?!
I will keep my eyes open and let you know how she goes. Fingers crossed she won’t have another turn
Big hugs to your crew from mine down under!
oh my word i bet you were frightened i love your storys hi im katie i own bubbles by ferrets
about a year old now .
hey Nona
Hanna also dose this from time to time it’s usually when disturbed from deep sleep or when winding down about 5 minutes into sleep mode. you might want to try this a few times to see if you get “repeated results”.
Try waking her up in her
“deep sleep cycle”, and about 5 minutes after she’s closed her eyes, to see if the symptoms show them selves.
Hanna is The only one that dose not have dose not have any problems “insulinoma or adrenal”
diseases. the others do and give this kind of symptoms when they have ether very small seizure’s or low blood sugar and very quickly bounce back.
Try giving her some baby food in the after noons as a “pick me up” to see if that resolves the problem, If it dose Then she may be at risk to those 2 problems,
OR her main food source is missing something she needs. IF possible compare the ingredients between empty food bag and the new one. are they the same?
This has caught me off guard before, and caused me problems like that too. Let me know either way.
I hope this helps, and it’s just the sleep thing.
your friend
Bill