Need some ferret vibes...again...

This time for little miss Rinnie. She's not acting right, at all. Still eating/drinking/pooping like normal, but she's started teeth grinding again hard core when she eats, her energy level has tanked, and after comparing her and Dameon's belly squishiness I am pretty sure she either has a blockage or a tumor. I'm voting blockage because this stupid ferret eats EVERYTHING she can get a hold of.

I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow, so we'll see what the heck is going on.

I can't take this anymore. I am over ferrets. I love them to pieces, but my heart just cannot take this anymore.

If you think it's a blockage, you need to get her to a vet now. Not tomorrow. They're definitely nothing to wait on in a ferret

Obviously, I hope it turns out to be nothing. Lots of vibes for her

Sending lots of healing vibes.

Took her to the vet this morning. I'll be going back in to work this afternoon, but once they get her examined and such they are going to call me so we can figure out what is going on and where to go from there.

ETA: Just got a call from the vet. Palpitation reveals that it is her spleen is HUGE. Like, she can't feel any of the other organs due to it being so big (which makes it bigger than Dameon's when he got sick last summer and I was freaking out about it being so big). Which makes sense, because I thought blockage - but she was pooping/eating/drinking - and also thought tumor, but that didn't seem to fit either.

So they're going to do bloodwork and take some radiographs to try to figure out what exactly is going on. If that comes back normal, then the next step is to either do an ultrasound/aspirate the spleen, or just go ahead and remove it entirely.

While we're waiting for the bloodwork results, however, what should I be doing to make her more comfortable? She's obviously not a happy camper at the moment because it is effecting her activity level/eating/drinking habits. Would putting her on some pain meds help? Should I switch her to a soft food to help with digestibility/give her better water intake?

All I can say is that I hate Google. Never google illnesses. It doesn't help your peace of mind at all.

The radiographs came back just fine (besides the spleen, obviously). Nothing abnormal about them. Blood was drawn and sent out to the lab, with us getting results back either tomorrow or Saturday. The vet did note that she is anemic, and not just mildly. Which is why I hate google, because now I'm terrified she has lymphoma and is going to be dead by tomorrow.

I'm still hoping that it is just her spleen being stupid and that removing it will solve all our problems, but Google hates me.

((((((hug))))))) Vibes that everything gets better when her spleen is removed!

Bloodwork came back today. Everything looked fairly normal (some values were a bit too high/bit too low, but nothing that really indicated anything) except for the fact that she is severely anemic. (And if Jess reads this - I did give her some prednisone encase there is some kind of autoimmune hemolytic anemia going on...figured it wouldn't hurt, correct?)

So while cancer is still a possibility, we really won't know for sure until we look at the spleen. My vet is going to call a specialist she knows and make sure she is on the right track and to discuss the surgery with him, then we're going to go from there.

Right now, the most likely course of action will be a splenectomy. But, because she's so anemic, surgery is very, very risky and will likely kill her unless she has a transfusion. Unfortunately, transfusions for ferrets aren't a dime a dozen. Fortunately, one of my old lab partners has ferrets and she said she would be willing to have her male donate blood for Rinnie's surgery if he is fit for it.

So we'll see. Right now my main worry is cost - I get half off all procedures at work, but I still really can't afford much. I'm hoping for a total cost no more than $300 (which would mean it was a $600 procedure), because much more than that and I'm not sure I'll be able to do it.

Rinnie is doing fine. Still eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom like a good girl. I kept her in at work overnight last night as I wasn't coming straight home after my shift and the vet staff doted on her the entire time. She has them all smitten, even the ones that were originally leery of ferrets. She's back home now; I can tell she and Dameon missed each other because they immediately started grooming one another and now they're cuddled up sleeping together. I had to remodel their cage for her, though, since she can't get around very well. Easy access drinking and food, plus a different litter box that she doesn't have to climb up and over to get in to (which I think Dameon will appreciate, too, as he's been having problems with that lately).

Honestly, if it were me, I'd put her on a dose of prednisone for life, amoxycillin and pepto for 30 days and call it that, metronidazole added if she gets diarrhea.

now, I may be wrong, but she's an older ferret, isn't she? I'd have to be really desperate to put an older ferret through surgery, and it would have to be real good odds.

As far as cost goes, you are easily looking into $1000+. To simply cut off a part of Harley's tail was $600 easily

ETA: that wasn't supposed to come off as.... Knowitall as it did xD obviously, you and your vet know her and her situation more than I do, so anything I say should be taken with a grain of salt. Etc and so forth

Any updates?

I always appreciate your input! Didn't sound "know-it-all"-ish at all.

I thought she was younger than what she was. I've had her for just over a year and when I adopted her the rescue estimated her age to be around two or three, but she was found as a stray so it was approximate. Her vet paperwork says she's four.

She's improved over the weekend. I was gone Friday evening, all day Saturday, and this morning due to work and the Grand Prix race on campus (my sister was watching after the animals for me), but when I got home this afternoon she's a lot more perky than she was. I have her on the same dosage of Pred that Dameon is on, so I'm hoping that has done something.

I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to put her through surgery. I don't have the money for it and if she's stable I'd rather just maintain her. I'm going to talk with my vet tomorrow and get her opinion (or, rather, the specialist's opinion she's talked to) and then go from there. But right now, especially now that she's perked up and is being onrey again, I'm leaning against surgery.

Glad she's perkier! Yah definitely a 4 year old, I'd be reluctant to do surgery on unless I was certain it would get rid of the issue completely. Definitely keep an eye on her poops too, if the spleen is that large it can easily cause diarrhea which can be solved with metronidazole so she doesn't become dehydrated.

Do you have them on prednisone, or prednisolone? It you can, I'd do prednisolone rather, it pretty much has none of the real bad side effects of pred, since it doesn't affect the liver (their liver turns pred into prednisolone to use).

So far her poops have been normal - Dameon was having some diarrhea issues for a spell, but that seems to be cleared up now *knock on wood*. But I'll keep an eye on it for sure.

I have them on prednisone, currently, but we're starting to run low so when I talk with my vet tomorrow I'll ask her about converting their prescription over to prednisolone. Is it the same basic cost/treatment plan?

Since her rads and bloodwork came back normal (or as normal as they could be under the circumstances), I really think it is just idiopathic splenomegaly. And if that is the case, if she made it through surgery, her prognosis would be fairly good. So I'm still torn on what to do...we'll see. As horrible as it may sound, I think cost will be the determining factor. If she will maintain a good quality of life either way (with pros and cons for each scenario), I'll probably go with the cheaper option.

I *believe* Prednisolone is cheaper, but I'm not certain on that -- I've always done alternate medications because Pred is rediculously expensive here. It's the same dosage, and pretty well the same thing, it just acts quicker.

Talked with the vet and we won't be pursuing any other diagnostics/treatment at this time. We're just going to keep her on a dose of pred and hope she maintains as she is.

Hope everything works out okay, and she's feeling better!!

She's almost back to her normal self, so I really think the steroids are helping out. She's still on limited activity so she doesn't wear herself out and I'm only trying to let her out when someone is there to supervise encase she decides to be a kamikazi ferret and do something that could injure/rupture her spleen, but she's doing great. When my boyfriend asked how she was doing and I was telling him our medication plan he laughed and said, "I think she was just jealous that Dameon was getting meds and she wanted some, too." Which is a likely scenario. Silly girl.