Below you'll find a few articles covering the most common ferret health issues we see with our ferrets.
If you're looking for a veterinarian for your ferrets, check out our vet list, which includes all all the Michigan ferret vets that friends of the shelter have recommended.
Adrenal Disease
Adrenal disease affects the adrenal glands in a ferret, which are located hear to the kidneys and produce hormones. Disease can occur in either or both of the glands, and can be hyperplasia (over activity), or caused by benign or malignant tumors.
How common is adrenal disease?
Adrenal disease seems to be something nearly every ferret will deal with. The older the ferret the greater the chance they’ll be effected, but even ferrets as young as 1-2 can show symptoms of adrenal disease.
Symptoms
Hair loss is the most common symptom, and can exhibit many different presentations. While a thin or bald tail in summer can be seasonal hair loss, any other time a ferret has any skin showing – whether in bald patches, or by losing their undercoat – that’s adrenal disease at work.
Males can also have unique symptoms in the form of prostate trouble, mating behavior, or both.
Prostate trouble can cause difficulty with urination. Bladder stones can also cause such trouble, so a male ferret having trouble urinating may be in immediate serious trouble that requires a vet visit asap to try to determine the underlying cause.
Mating behavior: ferrets tousle with one another often rather aggressively, so regular pouncing, holding, and dragging is not making behavior. What we’ve seen many males with adrenal disease do is grab a yuuuuuge mouth full of the scruff of a friend, hold on to friend for an extended period, and perhaps also get their back legs involved in the holding. In other words, ferrets do not act out mating as say a dog would; rather the grabbing and holding is distinct, and something you likely haven’t seen your ferret do before.
How is adrenal disease diagnosed?
While there is a blood test available, a blood panel run through the University of Tennessee, the panel is expensive, and does not always pick up active adrenal disease. Therefore, we’ve always diagnosed our ferrets as symptoms present, such as the aforementioned hair loss, difficulty urinating, or mating behavior.
How serious is adrenal disease?
Left untreated, the disease can cause trouble through overall wasting, and of course the overactive adrenal glands can turn cancerous. Many, many ferrets have with adrenal disease, often times for years. So while the disease isn’t immediately fatal and doesn’t seem to cause too much visible trouble for most, it’s important to understand that adrenal disease is a serious condition that should be treated.
What treatments are available?
Two primary treatments exist for you to consider: surgical removal of the adrenal glands, or medication.
Surgery
Long ago, before we had medication treatments available, we used to take our ferrets in for surgery. We haven’t done a surgery in nearly 20 years now, as we found surgery to be minimally effective. Due to proximity of the glands to important arteries, total removal of both glands is nearly impossible, which means the disease will continue even after surgery. So we have used the available medications since they’ve been available, and overall medication treatment seems to be as or even more effective in combatting the disease.
Medication
The best available treatment is Suprelorin© (deslorelin acetate) implants. The medication is given in a subcutaneous implant, and has always been well tolerated by our ferrets. “Des” as it’s often called is not a cure, rather it will combat all the different symptoms your ferret might have with adrenal disease.
Important to note about Suprelorin implants is that no one is sure how often they should be given to ferrets with adrenal disease. The reason there isn’t better certainty is simply because not enough study has been done to develop an answer. Most vets these days will counsel either giving one implant, then waiting for symptoms to reappear to give another, or simply giving the implant annually. Now if your male is having difficulty urinating, and you’ve ruled out bladder stones, the implant becomes an urgent treatment, and might need to be given more frequently, to help him control this most serious complication from the disease.
Because adrenal disease seems to be endemic to all our ferrets, if our shelter could afford to, we would start giving all our ferrets an annual Suprelorin implants, starting at age one. Doing so is far outside our shelter budget, so we only treat our ferrets as symptoms emerge. But if you can afford annual implants, we do recommend them.
Managing Insulinoma
Over the years we have worked with hundreds of ferrets with insulinoma. This article is designed to complement the clinical information that is readily available about the disease, focusing more on daily management.
What is insulinoma?
Insulinoma is a common, serious illness that many ferrets will develop in their lifetime. Often overlooked by owners and veterinarians, insulinoma can cause your ferret to have trouble keeping their blood glucose level regulated, stop eating and become anorexic, or worse. All owners should become familiar with the symptoms of insulinoma, so you can recognize when your ferret is in trouble. We also recommend testing all ferrets for insulinoma twice a year, starting at age three. Once diagnosed, your ferret will need your help to manage the disease.
Insulinomas are islet tumors on the pancreas that produce insulin, in addition to the insulin the pancreas already produces as it does its job. Too much insulin in the blood stream causes low blood sugar, which means the disease of insulinoma is similar to hyperglycemia. Symptoms that could indicate your ferret has insulinoma could include: on the mild side, lethargy, instability and/or drooling, all the way up to the more serious: nausea, seizure or even coma. Detecting the early symptoms can be tricky, since the milder symptoms are often similar to the aging process (sleeping more, playing less, etc.). Because insulinoma can appear suddenly and cause all sorts of trouble, we recommend screening ferrets at least twice a year, starting at age three. Screening is a simple blood test to measure the glucose level; the test should be administered after your ferret has fasted for four hours. A well experienced ferret veterinarian will be able to test your ferret during an office visit with a glucometer.
A ferret’s normal blood glucose level should fall somewhere in the 100-130 range, just like a human! If your ferret fails the screening test, he or she should be started on prednisolone, which is a supportive steroid. The “pred” is best given twice a day, every 12 hours, and medication is an essential treatment for ferrets with insulinoma.
Support in a Down Spell
While medication is critical to help a ferret’s body keep insulin levels steady, we have found that nutritional support is also a vital component of successful disease management. Frequent incoming meals are the body’s natural way to battle the ups and downs of the illness. If a ferret with insulinoma skips a meal for any reason, they can get into trouble quickly. If you find your ferret in a down spell, you’ll need to step in with support. At this point we’ll refer you to our article “Nursing An Ailing Ferret” for advice on supportive feedings.
Good to Know
Remember that ups and downs are common as disease progresses. Sometimes these down spells can be mild, but sometimes the spells can be quite severe and require lots of help from the ferret’s people to get them back on track. If your ferret skips a regularly scheduled meal, their blood sugar will drop. With low blood sugar, they might not have enough energy, and end up not getting up for the next regularly scheduled meal. Then their deficit will be more severe, making getting up for the next regularly scheduled meal even more difficult. And thus the downward spiral has begun, and most often you will need to step in to make sure your ferret gets back to normal.
Don’t forget that ferrets with insulinoma should not have sugary treats. This includes fruits, cereals, and most commercial treats. High quality kibble, with high protein levels, is what your ferret needs.
If ever you’re worried that your ferret has insulinoma, take them to see an experienced ferret veterinarian right away. In our experience, if a ferret lives long enough they will eventually develop insuinoma. Your watchful eye and offerings of help as needed can see your ferret live a regular, happy life with insulinoma on board for some time to come!
Nursing An Ailing Ferret
When a ferret becomes stressed or ill, they can develop anorexia and stop eating altogether. And since a ferret normally eats six meals a day, going without food for even one day can quickly become a serious problem!
Convincing a sick ferret to eat can be a daunting task. It’s always a good idea to be prepared, so get your ferret accustomed to a “mushie” and supportive nutritional products while they’re healthy! Once you and your ferret settle on their preferred mushie recipe, offer some at least a couple of times per week as a treat. If a ferret learns to appreciate mushie when they’re healthy, they will be much more receptive to eating it when they’re ill. You should also get your ferret to appreciate nutritional goo such as Nutrical, Nutristat or Ferretvite. These nutritional goos are supplements that can either help sustain a ferret for a short time, or add more calories to your mushie recipes.
Supplemental Feeding
If your ferret isn’t visiting their food bowl at least 3 times in a 24 hour period, it’s time to step in. Start by trying to coax your ferret to eat their normal kibble. Be creative with your attempts! Put a few kibbles next to your ferret when they’re in bed. Try holding your ferret and offering a kibble directly from your hand. If they just won’t have any kibble at all, offer their favorite mushie and preferred nutritional goo. Hopefully your ferret will enjoy the “treats.” They should have some at least every four hours, and they should have at least 2 heaping tablespoons of mushie per sitting.
Now if your ferret won’t eat regular kibble, but will eat plenty of the favorite mushie, then there’s no reason for you to simply not stick with offering the mushie. But you should still worry about why they’ve gone off kibble, and proceed straight to the vet visit, to try to figure out the underlying cause of the trouble. The root cause could be as simple as a sore tooth or flu bug, or your ferret might have stopped eating because a serious illness is emerging. There’s no reason for a healthy ferret to ever just stop eating regular kibble, so the underlying cause needs to be determined ASAP. And if you’ve tried everything but your ferret is still either not eating enough or not at all, then you’re going to have to keep up the nursing until they’re back to their regular eating schedule.
If you find you need to force feed your ferret, you’ll need some mushie and a delivery device; a feeding syringe is best. In a pinch you can use a dropper or even your fingers, but force feeding is easier done through a syringe. Load up a syringe with some mushie. Wrap your ferret in a blanket, burrito style, and set them on your lap. Offer the mushie first. Some ferrets will not eat from a plate, but they will eat from a syringe. If your ferret isn’t impressed yet, scruff them and gently wiggle the end of the syringe into their mouth. You’ll find a gap in the teeth back by the molars. Once you get the syringe in between those molars, squeeze in a tiny amount of mushie. For the first few bites, your ferret might not know what in the world is happening and freak out a bit! Go ahead and let them up, so they can run around and rub their face. They may also retch a bit, as they’re just not sure what’s going on, and of course they’ve decided not to eat at all. Be patient, going back again for more and more bites. Expect at least the first feeding to take a while and be a bit messy. You and your ferret are learning about the feeding process together!
As you and your ferret get used to the feeding routine, you can slowly increase the amount given per sitting. Don’t push it; if you see they’re starting to fuss after 10ml’s of mushie, then let them go and come back in an hour or so for more. Patience is key for you and your ferret to settle into the best routine.
Veterinary Care
Anytime a ferret stops eating, a visit to your well experienced ferret veterinarian is in order. Make sure to take a stool sample so the vet can check for any blood. If you’re seeing black, tarry stool, or if the vet finds any blood in the sample, then your ferret has developed gastric ulcers - a common side effect of a ferret going off their regular eating schedule. Gastric ulcers are quite dangerous and can even be life threatening, so the issue should be treated with medication right away. Also, when our ferrets have ulcers, we make sure to increase the frequency of supportive feedings. You’ll want to keep something on that empty stomach as often as you can. A ferret’s normal complete digestive process is only four hours long, so if ulcers are at work you’ll want to feed your ferret smaller amounts more frequently to try to keep them from having an empty stomach. Your vet can also determine if your ferret is dehydrated. If he is, your vet might give him a supportive injection of fluids.
When your ferret stops eating, helping them get back on their feet can be a daunting challenge. Don’t give up! No matter what the underlying cause of the trouble, be it depression after the loss of a buddy, or an emerging illness, the support is always the same. Ferrets can become helpless when they’re sick; their metabolism is so fast they can get into serious trouble after even one day off their regular schedule. Be patient with your ferret, consult a veterinarian, contact the shelter or ferret friends who’ve nursed one of their ferrets before to ask for more advice. If your ferret has totally given up on food, they’re totally depending on you for help. Fluid support and medications as needed are helpful, but the supportive feedings are by far the most important.
Emergency Nutrition, aka “Mushie”
Kibble: You can make mushie out of your critters’ regular chow. Figure your critter eats at least 20 kibbles at a sitting, at least six times per day. So take 120 kibbles, add enough water to cover, then set in the fridge overnight. In the morning, mash up or blend the soaked kibble until smooth. Note how much the volume has increased to get some idea how much you’ll need to feed your ferret each day. And that’s just a baseline; if your critter has lost weight, then you’ll have to give even more.
Chicken Baby Food: We often use plain chicken baby food to nurse a sick ferret. When you open the jar, you’ll find space at the top. We always fill this space with a few inches of nutritional goo (see above) to add calories. Then plan to give that full jar to your ferret each day. The one jar a day level will sustain most ferrets through their troubles for a short time.