By Dr. Laurie Hess
"I've never had to bring him to the vet before, because he's never been sick ..."
At the animal hospital, I hear this same declaration every day from pet owners about their sick pets, regardless of the species they own. And here's the catch-22: If these folks had brought in their pets before they were sick, instead of waiting until after they showed signs of illness, their pets might not have become ill in the first place.
This is especially true of ferrets, those masked mischief-makers who make wonderful companions but have become so popular as pets that their domestication and inbreeding have made them susceptible to a handful of common -- often preventable -- illnesses. Among the top preventable health problems in ferrets are:
-- Foreign object ingestion: Just as human children put everything in their mouths, so do young ferrets. Shoes, parts of the couch, toys -- you name it; they'll eat it. And then they develop intestinal obstructions, which are marked by diarrhea, bloating and sometimes vomiting. This requires lifesaving intestinal surgery to resolve. So if you ferret-proof your crazy critter's environment by removing all small objects from the floor and never leaving him out of his cage unsupervised, you can avoid a costly trip to the emergency room.
-- Hairball ingestion: Just as young ferrets eat foreign objects, middle- to older-age ferrets ingest hair, and can develop intestinal obstructions due to hairballs. These furry friends often groom excessively, consuming large amounts of hair that stick together with mucus in their saliva to form cigar-shaped mats that plug up their narrow intestines, leading to diarrhea, lack of appetite, lethargy and occasional vomiting. Sometimes a laxative treatment will help these hairballs pass, but more often, complicated intestinal surgery is required to unplug these tiny creatures. With brushing and a couple of oral doses of a petroleum-based cat hairball laxative each week, you can avoid this situation.
-- Urinary-tract obstruction: The most common cause of urinary-tract obstruction in male ferrets is prostate gland enlargement, which compresses the urethra (outflow tract of the bladder), preventing urination. Prostate gland enlargement in ferrets is most often a result of an adrenal gland tumor that produces hormones that cause the prostate to swell. Both males and females can develop these tumors, but because females don't have prostates, they don't develop urinary-tract obstructions. While the cause of adrenal disease in ferrets is not completely understood, and we cannot prevent it, we can recognize its telltale signs -- hair loss and itchy skin -- and treat it with hormones and sometimes surgery when it first occurs, before urinary obstruction develops. So if your ferret starts scratching and showing patchy baldness, it's time for a visit to the vet.
-- Dental disease: Can you imagine eating every day and never brushing your teeth? That's what most pets do, but at least most cat and dog owners take their pets for regular dental cleaning. On the other hand, most ferret owners never do. In fact, most ferret owners are not even aware that their naughty nibblers need dental cleaning. Ferrets, like dogs and cats, should have an annual dental scaling and cleaning, and ferret owners should brush their pets' teeth weekly to help keep tartar buildup down. There are tiny toothbrushes that fit on a human finger that are used with poultry-flavored toothpaste especially designed for ferret fangs. Regular tooth care in ferrets reduces gingivitis, tooth root infection and tooth loss that commonly occurs in ferrets as they age.
So if you own a ferret and he has never visited a vet, it's time for a checkup -- even if he isn't ill. Remember, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure.
Dr. Laurie Hess cares for birds and other exotic pets, such as rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, smaller rodents and reptiles at the Veterinary Center for Birds & Exotics in Bedford Hills, N.Y. Dr. Hess previously served as head of the Avian & Exotic Pet Service at the renowned Animal Medical Center in New York City.
Q&A
Tips to help keep
older dog eating
Q: My 10-year-old dog has been sick recently and he's not eating enough to keep a bird alive. What can I do to put some weight back on him and help him get better? -- via email
A: Your dog is dealing with a double whammy. Not only is he not feeling well -- and let's face it, most of us don't feel like eating when we're sick -- but he's also a member of the senior club, which means his sniffer isn't working at its best anymore. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to help him regain his appetite.
First, make sure he's eating a food that is easily digested with protein that is readily available for his body to use. That means meat protein.
The food should also taste and smell good. To enhance its aroma and flavor, gently warm it to just below your dog's body temperature, about 99 or 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Be sure to stir the food and check it with your finger for any hot spots before you feed it to him.
Feed your dog in an area where he's comfortable. Don't let other pets in the area unless he's a "social eater" who enjoys having human or animal company while he eats.
Your dog may not feel like eating much all at once. Try feeding several small meals daily.
Separate meals from potentially unpleasant experiences such as giving medication or changing bandages. If your dog learns to associate eating with those experiences, he may eat less or stop eating altogether.
Try tempting your dog's appetite with a delicious new food that he's never had before.
Praise or pet your dog when he eats.
Make sure your dog always has fresh water to drink. If he's dehydrated, he won't feel like eating.
If your dog is vomiting because he has an upset stomach, ask your veterinarian to prescribe medication that can block the effects of chemicals in the body that activate the brain's vomiting center.
If all else fails, consider tube feeding. It's not painful and it can be the best way to keep your dog from losing too much weight, so ask about it right away if you think he's having trouble eating. – Kim Campbell Thornton
THE BUZZ
Keeping tabs
on tabby cats
-- As in-the-know cat owners know, tabby is not a breed of cat but the pattern of the cat, no matter its color. There are five tabby patterns. For non-cat cognoscenti, here is an easy way to spot the different tabbies, according to Cat Daily:
1. The classic tabby has bold, swirling patterns on its sides that resemble a marble cake.
2. The mackerel tabby has narrow, branching stripes on its sides and spine that resemble a fish skeleton.
3. The spotted tabby has round, oval or rosette-like spots, small or large, on its sides.
4. The ticked tabby has neither stripes nor spots but is instead marked by individual hairs highlighted with alternating light and dark bands of hair.
5. The patched tabby is distinguished by a tortoiseshell pattern.
Tabbies all share a pencil-thin line shaped like an M on their foreheads. The marking has been interpreted as a blessing from the Virgin Mary or from the prophet Mohammed, who is said to have loved tabbies. Others link the marking to "Mau," the ancient Egyptian word for cat.
-- City-dwelling birds have a larger brain relative to their size than non-city dwelling birds. As the BBC notes, scientists suggest that larger brains in birds such as crows, tits, nuthatches and wrens make them more adaptable to the changeable conditions of city living.
-- Sperm whales communicate to each other through patterns of clicks called "codas." Not only do the codas communicate different meanings, Science Daily notes, but they can also denote individuals through the sound of their codas, as sperm whales actually have differing accents.
Although sperm whales have differing repertoires of codas depending upon where they are from, they do have a standard "five regular" call, a pattern of five evenly spaced clicks, which is used by whales worldwide and is believed to have the function of universal identity. -- Dr. Marty Becker, Mikkel Becker and Ed Murrietta
ABOUT PET CONNECTION
Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "Good Morning America" and "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Gina Spadafori. The two are also the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Dr. Becker can also be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker.