ill ferret

Hello, I hope someone who is experienced will be able to give me some advice. Last week Friday my male ferret (+-1yr old) had escaped from his cage and I found him about 50 metres from his cage lying prostrate. He was very weak. I rushed him to the vet (who is unfortunately not a ferret specialist) and he was immediately put on a drip and checked over. Xrays showed nothing broken and no internal injuries. He was semi-unconscious. The vet couldn't at first find any marks on him at all. Only two days ago did he see a small round area of slight bruising and swelling around the neck area which we do not know what caused it. He took blood and it shows that the liver and kidneys are failing because the enzymes caused by the bruising breaking down are causing toxification of the liver and kidneys. He is being tube fed 3 x day with Hills AD diet and homeopathic rescue was given the first two days. He is on a broad spectrum antibiotic. We need to know what can be done to detoxify his kidneys? He also shows discomfort and cramps (nausea??) when he is laid on his stomach - is there anything that can safely be given to ferrets for cramps /nausea? He cannot move by himself and is still on a drip. He is really 'flat' and doesn't move around though his eyes open occasionally and he can swallow a tiny piece of minced meat a couple of times a day. If anyone has any good advice or knows a specialist ferret vet who can help please could you let me know. Many thanks.

Firstly, well done. Great to see someone showing some compassion and not running away from the problem. I reckon only a vet could help you on this one. Phone around some other vets in your area, i`m sure there`s one that can give a second opinion.
basil.

Hi Guy.
Where are you?
I know a good vet in Manchester who is faultless with ferrets.
Ashley is the groups name Aden Raffrety is the vet, he is realy up on ferrets,
Cherry

Hi Cherry, thanks but my ferret died on Thursday afternoon at 2pm. I am pretty devastated as it was my fault he escaped in the first place. The vet is sure that it was a snake bite. Thanks again.

I'm so sorry,poor little ferret

(these signs look as the reaction on the snake's bit but do you have vipers in UK? ve have two species of vipers here but other snakes are harmless for people and animals like ferrets,cats,dogs..)

Hello guy, I am so sorry to hear of your poor ferret. I was thinking it could be a bite of some kind but never thought about a snake. I know we now have a False Widow Spider in the UK that can cause a nasty bite but not fatal. The bite from an Adder is normally at least two puncture marks if not four.

Fritz, yes we have only one viper in the UK, the Adder, it is not venomous enough to kill an adult but could certainly kill a small animal or even a small child!

Hi Guy.
IM so sorry to hear your sad news.
We will all be thinking about you.

I have had two dogs bitten by adders and they both needed vet treatment.
One was bitten on her mouth so could not swollow, her face swelled up like a balloon.
Not helpful I know sorry.
Cherry

Sounds like thats what happened to my little Ruby last year-she ran away for a couple of days,came back with similar mark and bruising around her stomach and died a couple of days later.I was never sure what happened,though I did think it was a snake bite,at the time.Reading your story seems to confirm my suspicions.Just heartbreaking,really.Have recently lost Jinks,who ran away on April 10th and hasnt been seen since-Ive searched day and night for weeks and have to very sadly accept,I probably wont ever know what happened to her.Still have Marvin ,Max and Jasmine but miss Jinks terribly as she was the most loving and interactive ferret Ive ever known!Wish she hadnt been so hellbent on escaping.