Almost lost one of our ferrets.

[sherrylynne]

About 3:00 Monday afternoon, one of our ferrets started throwing up. She'll do this from time to time if she eats too fast, so I didn't think much of it, and she went back to sleep. Got them out of their cage about 7 that night, and she didn't want to come out, and still looked like she was sick. So I pulled her out of the cage, and she tottered a few steps, and immediately curled back up to sleep. Didn't want to eat, either.
She's only a year old, and a perpetual motion machine. So, off to the vet we go. It turned out the vet thought she had a blockage, even though it didn't show on xrays. Now, with laxative, and pumpkin, ferrets will frequently pass the block themselves. So, I took her back home, and laxed her up good, had to syringe it, because she wouldn't take it on her own(she loves the stuff), did the same with pumpkin. After about 30 minutes, she passed a bit of foam rubber. Hubby picked her up, and she went flat in his arms. Totally limp, and unresponsive. Do you have any idea how fast a person can make a 30 minute drive in a case like that? When we got to the vet's, she perked up a bit.
Anyway, she stayed the night at the vet's, with us waiting for the call about surgery. Next morning, vet's office called. She'd passed a bunch more, and was feeling better. She spent the day so they could wait for a normal stool finally, and we brought her home 7 Tuesday night, sans surgery!
While she was there, her bonded cage mate was looking for her everywhere, and extremely depressed(they bond so closely the survivor will frequently starve to death when they lose their friend). When he saw her Tues. evening, he was ecstatic . Refused to let her out of his sight!
What scares me is from first symptom- the vomiting- to total collapse was only 9 hours! I knew these little ones could go downhill fast, but my god!
She'd not been away from my hubby for that long before, so guess where she picked to settle down when she was finally tired out? She's definitely his(or should I say, he's hers!)





She was there for at least an hour and a half before we finally had to go to bed from sheer exhaustion!

[Bonkers]

Gosh Sherrylynne what a horrible experience! Do you know what the foam rubber came from?

[sherrylynne]

Not a clue! That's the worst part. We've been over this place with a fine tooth comb, and can't find anything. The only possibilities we can think of are either from under the dishwasher(every once in a while, she's able to move everything without us hearing her and slip under- it's a portable, blocked off), or one of the cats clawed something downstairs, and brought it up stuck on the claws.
She's fine, now, thanks heavens, but we really thought she was dying in our arms Monday.

[coontuffy]

My heart is thumping in my chest from reading this   

Thank goodness she is okay sherrylynne.

How truly blessed this little girl is to have you and your husband for her protectors!!!!

[coontuffy]

Foam rubber in a mattress or boxspring??

Foam rubber in an orthopedic pillow?

Foam rubber in a kitty bed/ferret bed?

[sherrylynne]

No. No. And no. Checked all of those. The box spring is already blocked off with plywood, no way in there. And no tears along the sides. Feather pillows only. And no tears in the kitty/ferret beds. I think there's only one with foam in it, and we keep a very close eye on the covering for tears anyway.
From what I understand, the foam rubber could have been in her stomach for a few weeks, even, before it moved to a place where it caused the blockage!
What frightens me the most is we cannot locate where it came from. We've checked EVERYTHING! We even went to the extent of tipping up the dishwasher, to see if anything was wrapped in foam, and no.
I've even checked insoles of shoes, although there's no way they could have taken them out, and put them back in again- I think . Sometimes, with these little ones, I'm never certain
I'm really starting to think one of the cats dragged a piece of something up from the basement. That is the only thing that fits. Everything else has been ruled out. And believe me, with 8 of them running around, getting into everything, you do check! I've even gone through my cupboards, both upstairs and down, but no foam rubber on or in anything at all!
When I first got ferrets, I'd read that they love rubber and foam rubber, so all the toys with that went. So did all the unsealed beds, etc. And the blasted basement is so full of STUFF! Oh, well, I guess this is about the best reason we'll get to clear the basement after 13 years
And by the way? She still won't let her dad out of her sight! She caught him playing with one of the other ferrets tonight, and she was in shock! Think about the look that would be on your face if you walked in on hubby in the arms of another woman . That was on hers. She backed up a few paces and stared again. Then she ran to him to be picked up, and just stayed there in his arms, snuggling. And she is not normally a snuggly ferret!