Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anybody here ever had to give their ferret sub-q fluids? I have a ferret with renal failure and I was just wondering if anyone here has gone through what I am going through...

I haven't gone thru this, but do you know what's causing the renal failure? I've know others who have given these shots, but it was because the ferret had an illness that hopefully it could get over. I've had them given to a couple of my ferrets by a vet when my ferrets were sick and dehydrated. But they only needed one or two of these shots.

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Kat
Ferret mom to Jasmine and Daffy
A Cheesehead from Wisconsin

Well, he was given to me from his former owner. He is about 6 years old, so he is an elderly ferret. They renal failure is cuased by old age, among other things. I know it sounds weird to be doing this on a ferret who will eventually die from this disease, but me and my vet decided to TRY and give him a better quality of life. He says that he has seen cats with this problem that lived 4 more years with a good quality of life. I am going to get more bloodwork run this Saturday, if there is no improvement then I will have to put him down. I only wish I had had this option with my other ferret who just died, from a tumor on his heart.

I understand how you feel about giving him more time. One of my boys had an adrenal tumor that was on his left gland (the easier one to operate on), but it also affected his prostate gland. When it affects this gland, it's considered the worse type of adrenal. He had surgery and recovered just fine. A year later it had spread to his right adrenal. Because of the way it grew, the surgeon was only able to get 60% of it. He did have problems with this surgery, but less than a month later he was back to parr. But 6 months after that the tumor was back full force. I knew that this was it so I had him put down. For almost 1 1/2 years he had a good life. I felt it was worth it for him. One of my other boys got sick and the vet thought it might be lymphosarcoma. He mentioned chemo, but I said no. He might have had 4 more months with chemo, but I felt the quality of his life wouldn't be good. He would have had to go and get weekly blood tests while on that. He could also have been sick because of chemo. So that's why I said no. I didn't feel it was worth it to put him thru that.
I'm really glad you're thinking of his quality of life. I've heard so many people who just keep their ferrets hanging on because they don't want to let them go.
I hope things work out for your boy so he can enjoy his life. Please let us know how things go for him. Good luck to you and your fuzzy!
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Kat
Ferret mom to Jasmine and Daffy
A Cheesehead from Wisconsin

Well, he seems to be feeling a liitle better every day. He had enough energy yesterday to want to come out of his cage. I let him walk around the room, he stumbles a lot when he walks, but he does get around. He doesn't seem to mind getting his fluids, it doesn't take very long. I am more upset about getting the fluids than he is, I think. I just can't stick him with that huge needle, so my boyfriend does that while I hold him. My boyfriend saw him eating on his own today so that makes me feel really hopefull. He is going back to the vet tomorrow to get his blood taken again, I really hope it shows some improvement, I would hate to have put him through the stress for nothing. Wish him luck tomorrow! And thanks for the support, I need it.

Congratulations on your own wisdom. As was said earlier, too many people make their ferrets (and PEOPLE) hang on to life for as long as they can. But just because one person isn't ready for the other to die, doesn't mean the other person isn't ready to die, and I think it's more important that the other is taken into consideration (and by person I mean human and critter). Good for you, you really do care. I'm so relieved to know that people like you are still out there.
We're all keeping our fingers crossed for you. Hope everything goes alright. I think your little buddy knows the shots are making him feel better, they're very, very intelligent, and anyone can put 2 and 2 together...

We had to put Moses to sleep yesterday. He had a violent seizure saturday night, and by morning he was fighting to breathe. I decided it would be best to end his misery. Rest in Peace, Moses.

Sorry to hear about Moses. It looks the the kidneys were just too far gone. I know how hard it is to put one down, but it's better than letting them go thru pain that won't go away.
You took the time to take care of him and love him, and that's what counts.
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Kat
Ferret mom to Jasmine and Daffy
A Cheesehead from Wisconsin

I'm very sorry Moses didn't make it. I apologize for not posting an intro first, I'll do that in a moment. I just wanted to offer my condolences and give you a little advice on doing sub q's. Get butterfly needles, also known as scalp vein sets. They're not as big as the needle you need to draw the fluid from the bag and they have a little tubing attached so even a squirmy ferret is easy to sub q.