u/Ok_Obligation_9884

This will be my last post in this group, unfortunately my two babies are already in heaven and even having 20 more ferrets I could never replace them. They came into my life at a very difficult moment in my life, I emigrated to a new country, started university, and they even saw me get married and move out of my parents’ house. They lived so much with me and were one of my greatest motivations. I loved coming home and playing with them and just seeing and petting their soft little paws and simply being there with them, although they made me clean 200 times a day and many people didn’t understand how special they were to me. I will simply keep them in my heart, they were the best pets of my life, more than pets, my children, and I know they left many people and animals behind who loved them very much, like their grandparents and their aunt Alana (a little dog) who love them very much and hope that one day they can reunite with them.
Leo was always a very chubby and very loving boy, although he arrived like a fierce one and would bite everyone and fight a lot, that’s why we called him Leo, like “lion” in Spanish. He became more gentle and was always the most affectionate of the two, he would always follow you and look for you to play and be with you. And Andrés was always very independent, although he loved being in the same area watching what you were doing and getting into things he shouldn’t.
I love them and I will carry them in my heart for the rest of my life. I hope that one day I can explain to them how much they meant to me.

Hi, my name is Leo. I’m 5 years old.
Six months ago, I lost my best friend Andrés to insulinoma. It was really hard for me and my family.
About a month ago, my mom noticed I started coughing and took me to the vet. At first, they thought it was just a hairball, but after a couple of visits and some X-rays, they discovered I have fluid in my chest, possibly due to a heart condition.
Since then, my mom has taken me to the vet many times. I’ve had blood tests, more X-rays, and other exams to monitor the fluid. They also had to increase my medication because my coughing got worse again.
All of this has been very expensive. My mom has done everything she can to help me, even maxing out her credit cards. She just graduated from university, but she’s still fighting for me because she says she still sees a light in my eyes.
Now we need help to continue with my final tests and treatments. Without them, my vet can’t give me more medication or continue with other procedures that could help me feel better.
Please, if you can, help my mom take care of me. I just want to feel better and stay by her side.
Thank you for listening to my story.

https://gofund.me/2deca083a

I can provide more information about Leo and more pictures of him

Hi, my name is Leo. I’m 5 years old.
Six months ago, I lost my best friend Andrés to insulinoma. It was really hard for me and my family.
About a month ago, my mom noticed I started coughing and took me to the vet. At first, they thought it was just a hairball, but after a couple of visits and some X-rays, they discovered I have fluid in my chest, possibly due to a heart condition.
Since then, my mom has taken me to the vet many times. I’ve had blood tests, more X-rays, and other exams to monitor the fluid. They also had to increase my medication because my coughing got worse again.
All of this has been very expensive. My mom has done everything she can to help me, even maxing out her credit cards. She just graduated from university, but she’s still fighting for me because she says she still sees a light in my eyes.
Now we need help to continue with my final tests and treatments. Without them, my vet can’t give me more medication or continue with other procedures that could help me feel better.
Please, if you can, help my mom take care of me. I just want to feel better and stay by her side.
Thank you for listening to my story.

https://gofund.me/6d611c2b4

https://gofund.me/6d611c2b4 Hi, my name is Leo. I’m 5 years old.
Six months ago, I lost my best friend Andrés to insulinoma. It was really hard for me and my family.
About a month ago, my mom noticed I started coughing and took me to the vet. At first, they thought it was just a hairball, but after a couple of visits and some X-rays, they discovered I have fluid in my chest, possibly due to a heart condition.
Since then, my mom has taken me to the vet many times. I’ve had blood tests, more X-rays, and other exams to monitor the fluid. They also had to increase my medication because my coughing got worse again.
All of this has been very expensive. My mom has done everything she can to help me, even maxing out her credit cards. She just graduated from university, but she’s still fighting for me because she says she still sees a light in my eyes.
Now we need help to continue with my final tests and treatments. Without them, my vet can’t give me more medication or continue with other procedures that could help me feel better.
Please, if you can, help my mom take care of me. I just want to feel better and stay by her side.
Thank you for listening to my story.

Hi, my name is Leo. I’m 5 years old.
Six months ago, I lost my best friend Andrés to insulinoma. It was really hard for me and my family.
About a month ago, my mom noticed I started coughing and took me to the vet. At first, they thought it was just a hairball, but after a couple of visits and some X-rays, they discovered I have fluid in my chest, possibly due to a heart condition.
Since then, my mom has taken me to the vet many times. I’ve had blood tests, more X-rays, and other exams to monitor the fluid. They also had to increase my medication because my coughing got worse again.
All of this has been very expensive. My mom has done everything she can to help me, even maxing out her credit cards. She just graduated from university, but she’s still fighting for me because she says she still sees a light in my eyes.
Now we need help to continue with my final tests and treatments. Without them, my vet can’t give me more medication or continue with other procedures that could help me feel better.
Please, if you can, help my mom take care of me. I just want to feel better and stay by her side.
Thank you for listening to my story. If you can help dm please 🙏

Hi, my name is Leo. I’m 5 years old.
Six months ago, I lost my best friend Andrés to insulinoma. It was really hard for me and my family.
About a month ago, my mom noticed I started coughing and took me to the vet. At first, they thought it was just a hairball, but after a couple of visits and some X-rays, they discovered I have fluid in my chest, possibly due to a heart condition.
Since then, my mom has taken me to the vet many times. I’ve had blood tests, more X-rays, and other exams to monitor the fluid. They also had to increase my medication because my coughing got worse again.
All of this has been very expensive. My mom has done everything she can to help me, even maxing out her credit cards. She just graduated from university, but she’s still fighting for me because she says she still sees a light in my eyes.
Now we need help to continue with my final tests and treatments. Without them, my vet can’t give me more medication or continue with other procedures that could help me feel better.
Please, if you can, help my mom take care of me. I just want to feel better and stay by her side.
Thank you for listening to my story. If you can help me you can dm , thanks

My 5-year-old ferret was completely healthy until he suddenly developed a cough. After more than four vet visits, X-rays finally showed that his chest was filled with fluid, most likely due to heart disease. The fluid was making it very difficult for him to breathe, which was causing the coughing episodes.

The vet wasn’t sure he would survive because of how much fluid had accumulated, but thankfully he responded well to furosemide. During the first week he improved dramatically and started acting much more like himself again: eating, playing, exploring, and enjoying life.

However, about three weeks later, the coughing started coming back. Now he has episodes about once a day or every couple of days. Some are short, while others are more severe. During these attacks he seems to struggle to breathe, which is heartbreaking to watch. The strange thing is that afterward he usually returns to normal, eating, playing, and acting like himself.

I previously lost another ferret to insulinoma at 8 years old, and with him it became clear when it was time because he stopped eating, playing, and caring for himself. This situation feels different. My current ferret is only 5 years old and still has many good moments, but seeing him struggle during these breathing episodes is incredibly difficult.

He has also developed multiple melanomas over the past year. One was surgically removed about six months ago, but it returned and new ones have appeared in other areas.

For anyone who has gone through heart disease in a ferret, how did you know when their quality of life was no longer good? How did you balance the bad episodes with the good days?

Leo started having episodes of coughing with a wheezing sound a few days ago, which I posted about recently. We took him to the vet and at that time the doctor said he looked strong, was eating well, and she didn’t hear anything abnormal in his heart or lungs. She told us to bring him back if the coughing happened again so they could do X-rays.

Last night he started coughing again and seemed short of breath afterward. He became much more lethargic and tired, with faster breathing and what looked like respiratory distress. He would mostly just wake up to eat and then go back to sleep.

We took him back to the vet this morning. His breathing sounded clear but faster than normal, and again they didn’t hear anything obvious in the heart. They did chest X-rays and found a large amount of fluid in his chest/lungs area. The vet explained that because there was so much fluid, the X-rays could not clearly show whether the issue is heart disease or another organ failing.

They gave us two options:

1. Try a diuretic injection and monitor him at home.

2. Remove the fluid with a syringe and send it for testing, but this would need to be done without anesthesia because his chest condition makes sedation risky.

I decided to go with the diuretic first. We now have to monitor his breathing closely over the next 12 hours to see if it improves. If the diuretic helps and his breathing gets better, the vet plans to start heart medication along with more diuretics because the fluid will likely continue building up.

Leo is 5 years old. The vet told me heart disease is unfortunately very common in ferrets and can be hard to detect because they hide symptoms extremely well. Up until a few days ago he seemed completely normal to me.

The vet also said that if he doesn’t respond to the diuretic, there may not be many options besides testing the fluid and doing an ultrasound to get a better look at his organs. They mentioned it could also potentially be fast-progressing cancer or another serious condition, but the fluid made it difficult to see clearly.

I wanted to ask if anyone here has had a ferret with heart disease or similar symptoms. How did it start for your ferret, and how long did they live after diagnosis?

My ferret has been making this weird coughing/hacking sound for a while and I’m not sure what it could be. Could this be a cold, a lung issue, or maybe just hair stuck in his throat? He still plays, runs around normally, eats fine, and doesn’t have a runny nose or obvious low energy. I’m just worried because the sound keeps happening. Has anyone experienced something similar with their ferret?

Update: I took him to the vet and showed them the video. They checked his heart and lungs and didn’t find anything unusual. The vet said it could have been a hairball stuck in his throat, some kind of allergy reaction, or maybe something irritating his throat. They told me to bring him back if it keeps happening so they can run more tests.

He hasn’t done it again since yesterday when I recorded the video, and he’s been eating, playing, and acting completely normal like always. I’ll definitely take him back if I notice any changes, but for now he seems okay. Thank you all so much for the advice and concern.

My ferret absolutely loves grass. He rolls in it, jumps around, sniffs everything, and digs nonstop. We used to live in a house where he had access to a yard, but now I’ve moved to an apartment with only a terrace and no grass. I’m worried he won’t enjoy it the same way, so I’m thinking about adding some potted real grass or maybe artificial turf, along with a digging box to keep him stimulated. Has anyone else gone through something similar, and did your ferret adapt well?

Also he is really happy I just notice he want to jump out of the terrace to play with the plants outside of the apartment building and and I don’t want that because I know it animals outside I saw squirrels that has a baby they always cry for his mama and it’s dangerous for the ferret get near it