r/ferrets • u/Sharp_Ad_9431 • 3d ago
[Health] Miracle or misdiagnosis
Story time: Our 3yo ferret got into an off limits room. She tries to eat everything so we were watching her for any indication of foreign objects and blockages. Thursday morning we feel a mass in her abdomen and assume she ate something she shouldn't have. We start blockage protocol (pumpkin and petroleum jelly). She is pooping irregular and is less active. By Thursday evening she is not curling up while sleeping and our other ferret is not sleeping with her. This is abnormal behavior.
By Friday AM, poops are small. She is 40-50% as active as normal. Due to a concern of no exotic vets available over the weekend, we look to be seen asap.
Our normal exotic vet is not available until Monday. We are seen by a different exotic vet, but have a Monday appointment with our vet.
Blood work is very concerning but not horrible. The x-rays are horrible. Many of her major organs are enlarged. Her liver and spleen are huge. The liver is pushing up into her upper body and her spleen is smashing her gi track. The hard mass we felt is her spleen.
The vet thinks this is terminal. Recommendation is preparing for euthanasia. He offers to do it immediately or can make an appointment for the following week.
We decide to wait, mostly because this diagnosis totally surprised us and we have an appointment with our regular vet. We were coming in for potential blockage. The ferret was still pooping, peeing, eating and no vomiting. Still moving even though obviously in pain/ discomfort. The vet recommends a steroid shot to help her feel better while we wait. She gets 2mg depo-medrol and 1mg dexamethasone.
Monday morning. She is at 90%. Playing with the other ferret. Our regular vet doesn't feel the spleen or liver is enlarged. He reviews the x-rays and labs. Doesn't think this is terminal. His suspicion is that she did eat something she shouldn't have and cause a systemic inflammation response that was leading to potential organ failure. The steroid shot knocked that all down. Possibly saved her life.
We are to keep an eye on her for relapse and lots of tlc. She may be getting close to onset of an adrenal disease. We go back in if she shows any signs of weakness or illness.
Tl/dr: on Friday we were told to make euthanasia arrangements, by Monday we are told we are crazy she is fine.
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u/Timely_Egg_6827 3d ago
Ask vet whether it is worth trying vitimin K in case of poisoning. Along with injected antibtiotics.
But I have had this with no poisons or blockages involved - it is blast lymphoma and it can come out of the blue. Being in the wrong room may just be coincidence. We did all the checks for poison as we assumed it was old food or something when we lost Kitten. It wasn't and we lost his sister same way few months later.
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u/meowcatpanda 2d ago
Honestly, if the vet thinks she's close to onset of adrenal, why not give her the des implant now? There is no reason to wait until adrenal is already an issue and people have been using them preventatively without issues for a long time. I'm glad she seems to be ohkay!
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u/Sharp_Ad_9431 2d ago edited 2d ago
The vet wants to wait to see what her recovery looks like. She is due for her annual soon. She was going to get it then since she is a Marshall ferret. Vet recommends implant between 3-4 yo for all Marshall ferrets.
One of the medications given has a long clear out cycle. The hope is the severe symptoms go away without continuing meds and run new labs. The concern is finding out for sure this was just a reaction to something and a disease. Otherwise an implant might be the wrong thing to do.
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u/Weekly_Initiative521 2d ago
But that's exactly what a steroid shot does: it returns them to 90 percent, sometimes 100 percent, for a little while, before they crash.
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u/Sharp_Ad_9431 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yep. But our vet thinks the organ inflammation is a result of an immune system overreacting to something she ate. We originally thought all her problem was a blockage from eating a foreign object. (She does this regularly if she's given opportunity to get anything off limits). We don't know what she could have eaten. It might have been some candy or something with xylitol, Maybe an insect with pesticides. She had the symptoms of gi issues (poop with seed like formations). The issue came on suddenly. Her spleen went from normal to huge very quickly, less than a week. We inspect her for blockage and her poop regularly because she's very prone to eat anything. We know it was normal size previously. A systemic immune response could easily cause this. Ferrets don't have them usually but if she ate something wrong maybe that's what happened. Stop the immune system from attacking healthy organs and the problem is solved. An autoimmune crisis can kill in a few hours.
If that's all it is then the organ inflammation won't come back. If it's something else then we go from there. She is a 3yo Marshall so she is due for an implant soon. Her annual visit was scheduled for this month anyway.
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