My goodness, we had an absolutely HORRIBLE morning this morning.

You might recall I said that I thought Muis might have insulinoma after she had that weird spell last month?

Well, it seems like my gut feeling was correct and my vet’s diagnosis was not.
I had checked on the ferrets around 1.30 this morning and they were all fine, perfectly normal. Then around 3:30 the boys decided it would be a good idea to wrestle on our bed and cause mayhem, so I picked them up and put them away so we could sleep.
I then got both Muis and Kahlua out of the drawer and put them into our bed. Both were in that “dead ferret” mode, completely floppy, and since the two of them were so deeply sleep, I didn’t think anything of it.
However – as the night wore on, I was aware of Kahlua moving slightly but that Muis was lying there in the same spot and she didn’t seem to be moving at all.  
When the alarm went I got the coffee and tea and when I brought the mugs back to the bed, I saw Philip had Muis lying alongside him.
I asked if she’d moved there herself and he said no, he’d moved her. “Is she okay in your opinion?” I asked.
He looked at her and said, “Hmmm, her breathing seems rather shallow and odd.”
He picked her up and she was like a limp noodle in his hands, and we both said, “God, that’s not right!” almost simultaneously.
Muis was completely comatose.  I have never seen a comatose ferret in all my years of ferret ownership and I can tell you now, it’s a sickening feeling to see your ferret lying there like she was seconds away from dying.
I freaked out! How could she have gone from being perfectly okay when I checked her at 1:30am to looking like she was about to die on me 5 hours later, especially when she had acted perfectly normal the day before.
I knew that when a ferret is in a comatose state it should have Karo syrup rubbed on its gums but we didn’t have that in the house so I got the Nutrigel and smeared that all over her gums.
We then put her in a cat carrier so that the other ferrets wouldn’t disturb her and I kept on touching her to see if she was still breathing because she just lay there, looking completely lifeless.  It was HORRIBLE.
About half-an-hour after rubbing the Nutrigel on her gums, she seemed to come to life. Philip picked her up and although she was still floppy in his arms, her eyes were open and she looked like she recognized us.
I got more Nutrigel and smeared it on her gums again and then her eyes closed and she seemed to go to sleep.  Looking at her this time she actually appeared to look like a sleeping ferret rather than a dead one, so I was praying the Nutrigel was working.
I was watching her like a hawk, feeling her chest to make sure she was still breathing, which she was, and then about another half hour later she seemed to wake up and was scratching around in the cat carrier.
This time she really did look like she was back with us, so I went and got a saucerful of smoothy for her and she licked it with great gusto.
She finished everything so I gave her more and she licked that up enthusiastically too.
By this time she was fully normal and after finishing up her smoothy, she trotted back to the bedroom and got into the chest of drawers to sleep with the others.  It was like nothing out of the ordinary had happened to her.
I could hardly believe the change – okay it took an hour but it really was so incredibly dramatic to see how she went from being deep in a coma to being normal again!
I rushed her down to see Fiona, our vet, and she agreed it must be insulinoma so I feel vindicated. I just wish I had insisted that tests were done to prove it a month ago.
Anyway, Muis is scheduled for an ultrasound on Tuesday and once they know what exactly is happening to her pancreas, then we get her medicated and hopefully will be able to slow down the disease for a while.
So – people – if you suspect your ferret has insulinoma, make sure you check your ferret as often as possible and if you find it in a comatose state, rub Karo syrup, honey, Nutrical or Nutrigel on its gums IMMEDIATELY.
Fiona confirmed my worst fear that if we hadn’t done that to Muis, she would have slipped into a sleep which she wouldn’t have woken up from.
I thanked God this happened when it did because if it happened a week from now, I’d be in hospital and Philip would be at work, and Muis would probably have died since no one would have checked to see if she was okay.
I tell you, sometimes I think being a ferret owner really SUCKS!     :-(

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Filed under: Ferret Illnesses • Insulinoma in Ferrets

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