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BOTULISM

Ferrets are moderately susceptible to botulism types A and B, and highly susceptible to type C. . Improper storage and handling of fresh meat diets leads to accumulation of botulism toxin. They can become very ill in 12-96 hours after eating contaminated food.

Symptoms: Limpness which may be followed by paralysis of the respiratory muscles and death.

Treatment: Is difficult, in the US they use type C antitoxin and supportive care.

Prevention: If you feed ferrets on fresh meat make sure it is kept refrigerated and during summer months feed at night and remove the following morning.

CARDIOMYOPATHY (HEART DISEASE)
This is a condition that is usually seen in ferrets over 3 years of age. It consists of either the thinning or the thickening of the walls of the heart. This affects the blood flow through the heart.

Symptoms: Some signs are: a sudden decrease in activity; collapsing in the middle of play (in advanced cases a ferret may not even be able to walk across a room without stopping to rest): and the ferret may have great difficulty waking up. Other symptoms are chronic coughing, shortness of breath, fluid build up in the abdomen and lethargy. Diagnosis of the disease is done through X-rays and an EKG. More information >

Treatment: There is no cure for this disease, but the condition can usually be helped with the use of diuretics and other medications. A high quality diet has shown to be helpful, too. More information >

Prevention: Since some vets believe this may be a hereditary condition, it is not recommended to breed ferrets that have it. Feeding your ferret a high quality diet may also help prevent or control this condition.

CATARACTS
This is a condition where the lens of the ferret’s eye becomes opaque. Depending on the maturity of the cataract, the ferret may see little to no light. Cataracts may affect one or both eyes, but the latter is most common. Ferrets may develop juvenile or geriatric cataracts. Juvenile cataracts generally show up before the ferret is one year old. This is thought to be a hereditary condition. Geriatric cataracts are usually caused by the aging of the eye, injuries to the eye, or possibly from taurine deficiencies.

Symptoms: Looking into your ferret’s eyes, you will notice whitish circles within the pupils. Since ferrets generally have poor eyesight and since cataracts usually develop slowly, you may not even notice that your ferret has them. Sometimes the affected lens dissolves and the eye becomes clear again. This does not indicate the return of your ferret’s vision, although he may be able to detect some light again.

Treatment: Treatment is rarely done on this condition in ferrets. It is the general view that terrets blind with cataracts are not, in my experience, unduly altered behaviour-wise. They are quite happy hunting and living more generally in the dark whether from it being night or them being blind. The ferret eye is so small that standard phaco cataract removal techniques are not effective.

Prevention: Do not breed ferrets with cataracts to avoid passing the condition to other generations. Feeding a diet containing taurine may help, but no concrete evidence has been collected to support this theory.

GASTRIC (STOMACH) ULCERS (summarised from an article in Modern Ferret Magazine, the full article can be viewed at AFIP)
Ferrets can get ulcers during times of stress, so this debilitating, and potentially deadly disease should be considered in any systemically ill ferret. The abdominal pain and discomfort caused by these ulcers can start a vicious cycle in sick ferrets, decreasing their food intake, predisposing them even further to the ravages of disease. The presence of the ulcers decreases their ability to digest their food -- decreasing the availability of nutrients to the body, and increasing the occurrences of diarrhea and vomiting. Finally, loss of blood from these ulcerated sites in the stomach can result in a life-threatening anemia.

Symptoms: These can be difficult to spot or distinguish from symptoms of a pre-existing illlness. The ferret may go off their food and may become lethargic. There may be soft, poorly digested stools, or the animal may begin to vomit. Two signs, however, point strongly to the presence of ulcers, and should not be ignored -- grinding the teeth (a sure sign of abdominal pain), and the passage of thick, black, tarry stools, or the presence of this type of material around the anus. The tarry material that is passed is largely digested blood.

Treatment: Is symptomatic and often prolonged. Secondary treatment for Helicobacter infection is generally pursued simultaneously, with antibiotics, in the UK these tend to be Synulox PAL twice daily, Flagyl (metronidazole) at 30 mg/kg once daily,, along with a stomach protectant, such as Antepsin. Finally, a bland, highly digestible diet (Duck Soup, Hills A/D) is administered. Sick ferrets often require hand feeding to ensure adequate intake. (Antacids are generally not prescribed, as many sick animals have decreased acid production due to concomitant Helicobacter infection, and too little acid will impair your ferrets ability to digest its food. ) This is not a quick treatment - the treatment often takes 4 weeks or longer (remember - every time acid is secreted in the stomach, it irritates and enlarges the ulcer, so it will take a while before that ulcer has a chance to heal).

Prevention: Avoid stressing your ferrets, over crowding, poor sanitation, introducing new ferrets or introduction of new animals into an established group can cause stress. Bear in mind that insulinoma, adrenal disease and coronoviruses as well as other diseases can in themselves bring on ulcers, so if you see warning signs (tarry stools, grinding teeth) contact your vet to get treatment started as soon as possible.

GASTRO INTESTINAL FOREIGN BODIES
These may consist of hairballs, soft rubber or plastic pieces that have been chewed off of toys, rubber bands, insoles from shoes, foam rubber or numerous other items that ferrets may pick up off of the floor and eat.

Symptoms: Ferrets usually cannot cough up hairballs or foreign bodies like cats do; so most objects will remain in the stomach if they are too large to pass. This may present itself as a slow wasting condition as the object replaces the space needed for proper food digestion (hairballs often present themselves in this manner). Loss of appetite, nausea (evident by the ferret pawing at its mouth), and vomiting may occur, but are not evident in all cases. Sometimes the ferret may also have black, tarry stools. If the foreign body passes out of the stomach and lodges in the small intestine, the ferret will usually become acutely ill (severely depressed, dehydrated and experiencing acute abdominal pain). If surgery is not performed, the ferret can go into a coma and die in less than 24 hours.

Treatment: The ferret should be seen by a vet immediately to determine if the ferret needs surgery or not. If the ferret is not acutely ill, a barium X-ray series may be done to determine what is causing the blockage. If it is organic in nature (such as a hairball), the vet may try oral treatments with digestive enzymes or heavy doses of cat laxative before attempting surgery.

Prevention: The use of a ferret hairball treatment or cat hairball laxative, 2 – 3 times a week (every day during shedding seasons) will help control the formation of hairballs and will help small pieces of chewed up materials to pass out of the intestines. “Ferret proofing” your house on hands and knees to look for potential objects that your ferret may try to eat or chew should be done on a regular basis.

HEAT STROKE Ferrets cannot sweat and therefore they do not tolerate high temperatures (over 80 degrees) very well.

Symptoms: The ferret will start panting heavily and may become limp and listless. Eventually the animal will pass out and die.

Treatment: You must bring the ferret’s body temperature down, but not too low. Do not chill the ferret or it may go into shock. Soak towels in cool water and lay them over the ferret or partially submerge the ferret in a basin of tepid (not cold!) water. If the animal is conscious, encourage it to drink water, Diarolyte or Lectade, if available.

Seek veterinary assistance immediately even if it looks like the ferret is recovering as it may be dehydrated or be suffering from other complications.

Prevention: Do not expose your ferret to strong sunlight or take him outside on hot days. Do not set his cage near a window where it will be hit with direct sunlight. Do not leave him alone in a car, even on cool days, since the temperature inside the car can rise higher than the outside air temperature very fast! If you must travel with your ferret, take him inside with you when you leave the car. To keep the ferret cool while driving, be sure to give him plenty of cold water. You may also take a 2 liter pop bottle and fill it 2/3 full of water and freeze it the night before your trip. Set the frozen bottle in the carrier with the ferret (tie it down so it doesn’t roll around and hurt him!) This will afford him something cool to lean against for short trips on warm days.

INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE (IBD) also called Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBD), Chronic Colitis, Wasting Disease, Proliferative colitis, and Proliferative Bowel Disease. IBD is not a specific problem with a single cause. It is a catch-all term that only describes the general symptoms that occur long-term or occasionally. All causes have one thing in common, they make the lining of your ferret's intestines irritated. When the intestine is irritated, it becomes inflamed and slowly changes. It’s power to absorb nutrients decreases and the structure of the lining and intestinal wall changes. In many cases, this results in loose stools/diahorrea, intestinal ulceration, vomiting, weight loss and debility.

For more details on symptoms, causes and treatment view there is a good article at 2nd Chance >

POST-OESTROUS ANEAMIA (POA)
Jills, being polyoestrus and a seasonally induced ovulator, will continue in heat maintaining a swollen vulva and high blood oestrogen levels which can lead to bone marrow depression, anaemia (POA) and death. 

The condition POA can be life threatening. Jills in heat over 1 month without being taken out of season will be at risk.

Symptoms: Alopecia (fur loss), swollen vulva, depression, anorexia.

Treatment: If POA is suspected, or a jill is in heat and needs bringing out, then immediate veterinary treatment should be sought.

Prevention:  Any jill that is not going to be used for breeding should ideally be spayed before her first oestrus (usually around 6 or 7 months of age). Implants can be used to achieve a similar effect to spaying but will need replacing every 18 months. Jill jabs (hormonal injections) can be used to bring a ferret out of season, but will need to be repeated every year and are not guaranteed, a vasectomised hob may also be used but this doesnt always work.

PYOMETRA
Is a relatively uncommon life threatening disease in jills, where the uterus becomes infected and filled with pus. This condition can occur during a pseudo pregnancy (phantom pregnancy), it may also occur after mating with a vasectomised hob, failed pregnancy or having the Jill jab or implant. Often associated with POA.

Symptoms: Anorexia, toxaemic (bacterial toxins in the blood), depression and there may be a smelly vaginal discharge (if there is no discharge it may mean the ferret has a closed pyometra). The uterus can usually be felt on examination as being enlarged.

Treatment: If pyometra is suspected then immediate veterinary treatment should be sought, which will involve surgery to remove the infected uterus as soon as possible, as antibiotics are unsuccessful in the treatment of this disease.

Prevention: Spaying: Any jill that is not going to be used for breeding should ideally be spayed.

SPLENOMEGALY (Enlarged Spleen)
Splenomegaly is a very common finding in the ferret, especially in those over 3 years of age. The vast majority of enlarged spleens are benign problems that do not threaten your ferret's health, however, about 5% overall can be due to tumors, the most common being lymphosarcoma.

95% of splenic enlargements are due to a massive proliferation of red and white blood cell precursors. This change is due to the presence of a chronic smoldering infection, the most common of which is gastric infection with a bacteria called Helicobacter mustelae (which almost every ferret has).

However, there are a number of other diseases that are associated with splenomegaly and diagnostic tests should be performed to rule out these problems. More information >

DENTAL / TEETH PROBLEMS (Tartar, Periodontal Inflammation, Chipped and Broken Teeth, Tooth Defects & Cavities)
Ferrets do experience problems with their teeth, especially as they get older. More information >

The best thing you can do to keep your ferret's teeth healthy is not to feed soft foods or treats. It is fine to give them occasionally - but never as a regular part of your pet's diet. If you feed a crunchy diet, you will minimize the amount of tartar that builds up on your pet's teeth.

If you have any questions about this information, please contact your vet.