Flu Bugs and Ferrets

Having the flu sucks and this year’s flu is showing no mercy to those that get it. I know because I came down with the evil virus last week and it is still making me feel very yucky. It is also keeping me from being with my ferrets.

The CDC website reported that the current flu has increased in the last week. Meaning more humans are getting sick with this year’s strain of flu unfortunately, this doesn’t take into account the number of pets getting the flu.

Yes, I did say pets get the flu. Surprised? There is a flu vaccine for Dogs 

but not for other pets.

The flu can be very bad for the very young, the elderly, or those with compromised immune systems. Meaning it can prove to be fatal. This is true for our pets.

Did you know that you can give the flu to your pet and they can give it to you?

Because I don’t want to give this flu to Manny, Marcuz, and Marylin I am taking precautions to limit the chances of them catching the flu.

These include but not limited to:

Using hand sanitizer before and after touching them

Limiting my time in the room with them

Wearing a mask to prevent the spread of germs by sneezing or coughing

Not letting them give me kisses

While I hope, I caught it before I infected them the fact is the flu virus can show up five to seven days after exposure there is a chance they may already be infected.

This means that I will be watching for symptoms.

These include:

Watery eyes

Sneezing

Coughing

Loss of appetite

Sleeping more than normal (Sleep is a big part of a ferret’s life)

Low energy

Yep same symptoms you see in humans that have the flu and the treatment is the same. Rest and fluids and for the most part both humans and ferrets get over the flu in seven to ten days.

The concern comes when a ferret doesn’t eat or drink anything in a forty-eight hour period as they can rapidly become dehydrated.

I have a supply of duck soup . (Duck soup does not contain duck but was named for a ferret named Lucky Duck)   in the freezer for those times I need to have a liquid diet for my ferrets. I make up a small batch every other month and pour the liquid into ice trays. Once frozen I cut the cubes into fourths.

Duck soup should be in all ferret owners’ supplies. There are several powdered brands out there as many recipes for making it from scratch.

When one of the furkids gets sick I defrost one of the small cubes, which is usually all a sick ferret wants to eat at a time until they are feeling better. If a ferret isn’t interested in food and has stopped drinking for a period of time or has immune issues it is time to make an appointment with the vet.

With their small systems the flu can rapidly turn into pneumonia causing other complications. This means while I am sick I am unable to play with my kids and will have to make it up to them when I finally kick this nasty bug’s butt out of my system I would rather they be healthy and happy than to have to be nursing them back to health.

Stay Healthy and Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo