A Real-Life Look At Ferret Illness
Luckily, Weaz's insulinoma has not yet progressed to the point where he experiences full-blown seizures. When Joey advanced to this stage, my husband and I learned to bring him out of the seizures by gently forcing a dextrose solution into his mouth with a syringe. This is a scary and heartbreaking process, and I know we'll eventually be there with Weaz.
As we struggled to come to grips with Weaz's illness, another of my ferrets began showing signs of adrenal disease. Callie is a bit younger than Weaz, and was asymptomatic except for some balding in her tail and back area. During her surgery, our vet discovered that she too was in the early stages of insulinoma. In addition, her lymph nodes were swollen and she had splotches on her liver.
In Callie's case, only one adrenal gland had to be removed. Our vet also removed the insulinoma tumors and biopsied liver and lymph node tissues. Thankfully, we learned that the swelling and splotching were not the result of any malignant growths. However, she has a non-contagious form of hepatitis which we are treating with medication. For now, her insulinoma is gone. But as we know from experience that this condition is frequently recurring, we watch her carefully for signs of the disease.
My husband commutes an hour to work each day. Each morning before he leaves, he prepares syringes with Weaz's and Callie's medications. He wakes me at about 6 a.m. and we medicate the ferrets before he dashes off to work. I get ready for work, get our two "invalid weasels" and the three healthy ferrets fed, and head off for my own day at the office.
As soon as I get home at 6 p.m., I sit with Weaz and make sure he eats again. Then we clean up a day's worth of weasel poop and administer the evening medications. After playing with the gang for a bit, I do some part-time work I"ve taken on to help offset the costs of surgeries, vet visits and medication.
Since April, my husband and I have spent over 2 thousand dollars in veterinary care for Callie and Weaz. We're fortunate in our current economic climate to be able to do this, but the ability hasn't come without sacrifices. We are a one-car family, even though his job requires a tough commute and I'm often stranded waiting for a ride home. Much-needed upgrades to our
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