It’s not ringworm – phew :-)

Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 12:02 am

I noticed Muis had a sore on her thigh two weeks ago and so kept an eye on it. It was a little “wet” at first, then I saw a scab form so thought it was getting better.

A few days later I saw the scab wasn’t there anymore and it was wet again, and the sore had a circular shape to it so I thought, “Uh ho! Please let it not be ringworm!”

Took her to my vet quick smart and was very relieved to find out that it wasn’t ringworm. Fiona checked with the UV light first and then told me that with ringworm, the bald patch starts from the center and moves outwards, so no hair grows in the circle. With Muis, there were bits of hair sticking up inside the area so that was a good sign.

She thought that it might have been caused by an insect bite which irritated her, so she scratched and itched and that made the sore.

She had an antibiotic and a small cortisone shot, and I put cortisone cream on the area twice a day and slowly it’s clearing up. Obviously the ointment won’t harm her if she licks the area.

I would stress to anyone who has a ferret with a sore on it … DO NOT SELF-TREAT. It might seem a cheaper way to fix the problem but if you put any ointment or cream on your ferret which is not suitable for animals, then your ferret will lick it off and could either get ill or possibly die from it.

I remember the son of a friend put human wart medicine on his ferret’s wart and she licked it and died a horrible death.

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