90% of ferrets six years old will have adrenal disease. A tumor grows on the adrenal gland, causing it to change how hormones are used or released into the body.

The first symptom is often thinning fur, especially on the tail or at the shoulders. Other symptoms are weight loss, inability to gain weight, pot belly, muscle wasting, enlarged nipples, aggression, especially toward other ferrets, itching more than normal, for females - enlarged vulva and anemia, and for males - increased odor and difficulty urinating (swollen prostate-dribbling, straining, pain when urinating). The tumors are usually non-cancerous, but can become cancerous if not treated. If not taken care of, the ferret will get more and more uncomfortable over time and eventually have a painful death.

There are four forms of treatment – melatonin, Suprelorin (Des) implants, Lupron, and surgery.  My recommendation is to always start out with the lowest form of treatment (melatonin) and then go to the other forms.  Each form of treatment will only help for so long, so the sooner you start one form of treatment, the sooner it will stop working. 

Melatonin can be given as a supplement or an implant. The liquid supplement should be given daily seven to nine hours after sunrise to mimic the body's natural output. The implant is a small plastic piece injected under the skin like a microchip. This gives off medication every day that treats the symptoms.  Most believe it does not slow the progress of the disease.  (I have used this treatment for years and have seen no difference between using it and the Suprelorin, until the later stages of the disease.)  It lasts four to six months. If given regularly at a young age, many people believe it can help prevent adrenal disease. Most ferrets respond to this implant. ($48)

A Suprelorin (Des) implant is a hardened medication that is injected under the skin like a microchip. It gives off medication daily. The implant lasts 12-14 months. It slows the progress of the adrenal disease and treats the symptoms. Many people believe it prevents adrenal disease or greatly delays the symptoms. ($200 + vet visit at most vets)

A Lupron injection or implant lasts three to four months. It starts working faster than melatonin or Des implants and is good at stopping symptoms and slowing the progress of the disease. It works on most ferrets. It is expensive and can be difficult to find a vet that has it.

If the ferret is otherwise healthy, adrenal surgery can be done. It’s preferred to do surgery after five years old. Surgery removes the left adrenal gland, so the problem is removed until the right adrenal gland becomes affected. It is still recommended to continue treatment for adrenal disease to keep the right adrenal gland from being affected or to slow down the progress of the disease if it is affected.

If the right adrenal gland is affected, most vets cannot remove it. The vena cava artery surrounds the right gland and it's very complicated and dangerous to do the surgery. There's a 75% chance the left gland is affected. Having an ultrasound done before the surgery is always the best thing to do. This determines which gland is affected and if there are any other major issues that may prevent surgery.

Once the left adrenal gland is removed, the right adrenal gland has to work harder. This increases the chance of it getting adrenal disease. That's one of the reasons for waiting to do adrenal surgery until they're closer to five years old, unless the symptoms warrant doing surgery sooner.

These are pics of ferrets in various stages of adrenal disease and a picture of where the adrenal glands are located.

Anemia is when there is a low red blood cell count. This comes from too much blood loss. Blood loss occurs from fleas (even just a few can cause anemia), ulcers, lymphoma, and other causes. A ferret with anemia will generally not have much energy. The gums, lips, ears, paw pads, and nose will all appear white or light pink than normal. This requires a vet visit for a blood test to see how bad the anemia is and help determine a cause. Treatment is usually a high iron supplement, like Hi-Vite, and organ meat (liver, kidney, gizzard, heart), along with treating the root cause of the anemia (flea or ulcer treatment).


I frequently stress the importance of having your ferret accustomed to eating soup. If a ferret gets sick, it will usually stop eating kibble. If it's used to eating soup, it will often continue to eat the soup, which keeps it from getting sicker. Also, if the ferret is used to eating soup and you need to give it medicine, sometimes the medicine (or organ meat in the case of anemia) can be added to the soup without a fight from the ferret. (This is not the case with bad-tasting medicine. In that case, it will keep the ferret from eating the soup.)

A chordoma is a tumor that grows on the spine of the ferret, usually at the base of the tail.  It puts pressure on the spine, which can cause pain, discomfort, loss of mobility, and bleeding from it hitting things. It can even cause incontinence because of pressure on the spinal nerves.


The first picture is of a large chordoma.   At this size, it is painful for the ferret to pull around on its tail, as it's putting a lot of pressure on the spine.  It's also painful as the chordoma hits things and splits open.  That is a scab on the chordoma from where it has split open after being hit. 

Treatment is surgery to have the tail amputated from a couple of vertebrae before the chordoma.

The second picture is of a chordoma near the base of the tail.  This means the entire tail will have to be amputated to remove the chordoma.  This is a more complex and expensive surgery.  The ferret should be fine after the surgery but will have a little trouble with balance without a tail. 

This third picture is after the chordoma removal surgery. This ferret seemed to be acting fine before the surgery. However, after the surgery, she was a lot more active and clearly feeling better. This just shows the chordoma was causing her discomfort, even though it was at the end of the tail.  Her tail is shorter because part of it had to be amputated to remove the chordoma. Sometimes the fur grows back fully. Sometimes it doesn't.

Below is a link to an excellent article on chordomas!

https://www.themodernferret.com/ferret-chordoma-tumor-tail/

Any ferret with diarrhea lasting more than 1 ½ to 2 days should be seen by a vet.

Diarrhea can initially be caused by stress or eating something it shouldn't have. After two days of diarrhea and if there has been no food change, it means there is something medically wrong with the ferret.

You should always transition from one food to another, so the ferret's stomach doesn't get upset. If you have been slowly transitioning food and there is still some diarrhea after three days, then discontinue the new food. If there is diarrhea after discontinuing the new food, the ferret should be seen by a vet.

A ferret with diarrhea for two or more days must be seen by a vet, and as soon as possible although a trip to the emergency vet is not necessary. This can be a very serious situation.

Many ferrets will get this. It is an inflammation of the intestinal lining. It causes frequent diarrhea, weight loss, and discomfort. It is a permanent condition, though it can go into remission. There isn’t a standard treatment. You and the vet must figure out what works for your ferret. Treatment can include giving probiotics twice a day, changing the diet, giving stomach medications, giving an anti-diarrheal twice a day, giving Slippery Elm Bark Powder twice a day, giving Prednisone, and treating with antibiotics when diarrhea gets bad enough to cause a bacterial infection.


We usually try to get the ferret off any food that has chicken in it. It is believed chicken has a greater effect on IBD than other meats. Orijen Regional Red cat food does not contain chicken. You can also get chicken-free freeze-dried raw foods and ZiwiPeak.


For at-home treatment:

Try other foods with the ferret to see if that makes a difference. Read the label of what you’re currently feeding and try to find something considerably different.


Add a pinch of probiotics to soup twice a day or you can try to sprinkle the probiotics over the kibble. (The rescue uses Probios probiotics. Any type of probiotics is fine to use.)


Give an anti-diarrheal product, twice a day. Poopin Pumpkin is an excellent anti-diarrheal product. Add a pinch to the soup or even make a soup of it. You can add ½ teaspoon of canned pumpkin to the soup or give it to the ferret straight if it will eat it. Bene-Bac is a paste given for diarrhea. It’s great to have on hand for ferrets with IBD.


Slippery Elm Bark Powder - use 1/8 teaspoon in a bowl of soup twice a day. Do not use it more than ten days in a row. It can alter the natural bacteria in the gut and cause further problems. Use for ten days and give a break of at least three days.

This is a condition that generally affects older ferrets. It's when cancerous tumors grow on the pancreas causing an over-production of insulin. This causes low blood glucose. This can make the ferret feel light-headed, dizzy, lethargic, unstable, nauseous (drooling, gagging, or pawing at the mouth after drinking or eating) and not want to eat. Normal blood glucose is about 120. Treatment is usually started with a blood glucose level of 60. While it is cancer, the ferret can live a long time with proper treatment.

Symptoms include: sleeping a lot, head tilted to the side, not eating well, pawing or clawing at the mouth when drinking or eating, drooling, gagging, stumbling or falling over when walking, glassy look to the eyes, eating a lot but still no energy, being nearly comatose, hind end weakness, and can't stand up well.

If your ferret has these symptoms, it needs to see the vet for a blood glucose test. The vet may try to talk you into other bloodwork while there. Insist that just the blood glucose test is done to start with. If the ferret has low blood glucose, no other test may be needed.

I had a ferret with a blood glucose of 110 that would become lethargic, not want to eat, etc. unless he received medication as treatment for low blood glucose. I've also had ferrets with really low blood glucose that showed barely any symptoms. Every animal is different. Treat your animal according to its symptoms. Most vets won't treat a ferret for insulinoma with blood glucose higher than 60. If your ferret is having symptoms of insulinoma with higher blood glucose, you must stand up for your ferret and make sure it gets treatment, so it feels better and is happy and healthier.

Treatment for insulinoma is steroids, like Prednisone, or pancreatic surgery. Steroids are nearly always the go-to treatment. For surgery, the vet will remove any areas of the pancreas where he sees tumors growing. The pancreas is a rather large organ that has many folds in it. The tumors can be as small as a grain of salt. So, it's impossible for the vet to see every tumor to be sure all are removed. It slows down the progress of insulinoma, but you don't know by how much because you don't know how many tumors are left behind.

Steroids help control the insulin in the body and keep the blood glucose at a more regulated level. I prefer Prednisolone because it’s not as hard on the liver. Medication is normally prescribed twice a day, approximately 12 hours apart. Don't worry if you must give it an hour or so early or late, just be sure the timing is at least eight hours apart.

Steroid medications are hard on the stomach and MUST be given with soup to help protect the stomach. Do not just assume the ferret will eat enough kibble to protect the stomach. It won’t. The vet may prescribe Sucralfate or Carafate to protect the stomach.

The medication only lasts about eight hours in the ferret’s system. After that, the ferret is sort of coasting along until the next medication. So, if your vet prescribes steroids only once a day, question the vet about it. This means the ferret will only have something in the system to control the blood glucose 1/3 of the day.

If you can give extra soup after eight hours or before the 12 hours, it helps keep the blood glucose stable until time for the next medication. If you can't do this all the time, that's fine. Just try to do it when you can. It helps.

If the ferret is prescribed .25 ml of steroids twice a day, I prefer to use tablets rather than liquid. As soon as the liquid hits the stomach, it can start causing damage. Tablets disintegrate slowly and travel to the intestines and, therefore, don’t cause nearly the damage to the stomach. The liquid steroid also usually has a bad taste to it, and it can be a fight to get the ferret to take it. It isn’t normally a good idea to add the liquid steroid to the soup because it can alter the taste of the soup and make the ferret not want to eat it. Since it’s important the ferret have the soup, it’s not worth the risk it will stop eating it because of the bad taste that’s been added. There are flavored liquid steroids available that help covers the bad taste.

For tablets, if the ferret is on .25 ml, in a saucer or small bowl, use the back of a spoon to crush ¼ tablet into a fine powder. Add ½ teaspoon or so of salmon oil, melted coconut oil, or some other oil or paste the ferret likes. Warm some soup (not hot), then scrape the oil and crushed pill on top of the soup. The oil will make the medication float, so when the ferret is eating the soup, it eats the medicine first. (If your ferret doesn’t like salmon oil, coconut oil, or any other oil or paste, rub some on its lips four or five times a day to get it used to it.) Use a spoon to scoop up the medicine, oil, and some soup, and let the ferret lick this from the spoon. This way it’s sure to get the medicine. Soon, they will eat it all with no spoon.

If there is any concern the ferret is not going to get all the medication, you may have to use liquid steroids until you can get it used to the soup with meds on top. You cannot risk the ferret not getting the medication. If you only have tablets, find a way to get the tablets with salmon oil or coconut oil into a syringe so you can squirt them into the mouth. (Always squirt the liquid in from the side of the mouth to help prevent it from being inhaled.)

Ask your vet to provide you with some anti-nausea medication to have on hand. If a ferret is feeling nauseous from low blood glucose, it is not going to want to take its medication. A small dose of anti-nausea medication will let the ferret feel like eating and drinking again.

If your ferret seems to be in a stupor or coma, showing signs of insulinoma and doesn’t want to take soup with meds, is nauseous (pawing at the mouth, drooling, gagging) where it doesn't want to eat or drink, or having a seizure, use a Q-tip to rub Glucose (human blood diabetes medicine), Ferretvite, Nutrical, honey, or Karo syrup on the gums. (If you don’t have a Q-tip, use your finger.) This should perk the ferret up to the point it will feel like eating soup with medication. Do NOT give this unless the ferret is unable to take food and meds on its own. Do NOT give this regularly. It can worsen insulinoma because of the high sugar content. Once you give this, it is very important to give meat baby food or ferret soup. The protein in baby food or soup will help stabilize the ferret.

If your ferret is stable with medication and begins showing symptoms again or you must use anti-nausea medication or Glucose, Ferretvite or Nutrical, then you must take the ferret to the vet within a couple of days to see if the medication dosage needs to be changed. Medication may have to be increased to three times a day or a higher amount or changed to Diazoxides. This can be life or death.


As a ferret gets older, it is likely to get insulinoma (low blood glucose).


Symptoms can include the following:

• Sleeping a lot

• Head tilted to the side

• Not eating well,

• Pawing or clawing at the mouth when drinking or eating,

• Drooling

• Gagging

• Stumbling or falling over when walking

• Glassy look to the eyes

• Eating a lot but still having no energy

• Being nearly comatose

• Hind end weakness

• Can't stand up well


If your ferret seems to be in a stupor or coma, is showing signs of insulinoma and doesn’t want to take soup with meds, or is nauseous (pawing at the mouth, drooling, gagging), use a Q-tip to rub Glucose, Karo syrup or honey on the gums. (If you don’t have a Q-tip, use your finger.) This should perk the ferret up to the point it will feel like eating. Do NOT give this regularly. It can worsen insulinoma because of the high sugar content.


Keep doing this until the ferret is acting a little more stable. Then you need to feed the ferret something high in protein, like some of its high-protein kibble made into a soup or some chicken or turkey baby food. It is important you back up the sweet liquid on the gums with something high in protein. The high protein is what will help stabilize the blood glucose level. Then you need to get the ferret to the vet the same day or the next day at the latest.


Do not rub Glucose, Karo syrup, or honey on the gums if the ferret is not in serious shape, as it can do more harm than good.

Figure 1: Example of a Mast Cell Tumor.

Figure 1: Example of a Mast Cell Tumor.

Mast cell tumors are very common in ferrets. Mast cells are a group of cells in the skin that are associated with blood cells. They cause allergic reactions with redness and itching like from hives. Mast cell tumors are usually benign in the ferret.

Mast cell tumors often start as a flat balding spot on the ferret's body. They don't usually attach to anything under the skin. Ferrets will sometimes chew or scratch at the spots because the tumors itch a lot. The tumor may go away and come back, stay the same size, or get larger. If done when the tumor is still very small, sometimes the vet can inject it with a chemical over two or three visits to freeze it off. Otherwise, surgery is needed to remove them when they get larger or when they cause too much itching.

You can try applying some antihistamine cream (like Benadryl) to the spot to see if that helps.

Levocetirizine (brand name XYAal) is an antihistamine that does seem to influence itchiness for some ferrets. Liquid (concentration of 2.5 mg per 5 ml) - Give six to seven drops daily. The ferret isn’t going to like the taste, so it’s sometimes easier to give the tablet. 5 mg tablet – Crush and mix with 1.7 ml of Ferretone, salmon oil or whatever liquid the ferret likes. Rub one drop on the tongue or gums. If the ferret gets two drops instead of one, it is okay. Treat once a day for two days. If no change or not enough change, treat twice a day for two or three days. If no change or not enough change, double the dosage in the morning and give the normal amount 12 hours later. If the doubled dosage helps during the day, then double it at night too.

There are many people who believe treating a ferret with a mast cell tumor with an Essiac tonic can help slow down the progress or, at the very least, help with inflammation and general discomfort. https://www.herbsetc.com/essiac-tonic-2-oz-alcohol-free/ Always refrigerate after opening.

Typically, for mast cell tumors, ear tumors, etc. - Mix eight drops of Essiac with one cup of warm water. Soak the affected area for ten minutes twice a day. If you can't soak the area, apply the mixture with a gauze pad and keep it applied for ten minutes twice a day.

A prolapsed rectum occurs when the animal is straining too hard to defecate and the rectum is pushed out. It will be bright red and may have blood. The attached pic is of a bad prolapse.



Treatment: Clean up the area with a warm soft cloth, then treat the difficulty of defecating. Provide soup or softened food. It’s easier to digest and pass as a stool. Remove hard kibble until the ferret's better. For softening food, cover with water, let stand 20 seconds, then pour off all water. This softens without making it mush.

Give ¼ teaspoon of salmon oil, Vaseline, or other types of oil 2-3 x a day. The oil or Vaseline makes it easier for food to pass which means less straining to defecate. (A ¼ teaspoon of oils or Vaseline for a short time will not harm the ferret.)

Apply warm compresses 3 x a day or more. This comforts and relaxes the colon and anus, making it easier to defecate.

Use hemorrhoid cream on the anus. This makes it easier to defecate, shrinks the anal tissue, and eases discomfort. If the ferret licks it off, get a bad-tasting cream to add to it. (Vet offices sell Yuck cream and it works very well!)

Don’t give anything with pumpkin. Pumpkin can firm the stool making the ferret strain to pass it.

Kits get a prolapsed rectum from being fed hard kibble. Their organs can’t process the hard food as easily as a mature ferret. They also tend to not drink enough water, which only worsens things. A kit should be offered soft food for 2-3 weeks. Hard kibble can then be offered with the soft. Once the kit is eating only hard kibble, remove the soft kibble.

(Example of a prolapsed rectum below)

If the prolapse is really bad or these measures don’t help enough, the ferret has to see a vet. It likely means there's a bacterial infection. Continue to use the measures above while treating with antibiotics. If really bad, the rectum may have to be stitched in place. If so, it’s important to follow the above notes, or the ferret will strain again and pop the stitches.  (When giving medication, first give the ferret something it likes [soup, salmon oil, Ferretvite, etc.] to coat the mouth, then the antibiotic, then more of what it likes to help get the bad taste out of the mouth.)

Pruritis (excessive itching) can be caused by adrenal disease, fleas, mites, dry skin, blowing the coat in the spring and fall, mast cell tumors (on a specific spot), and occasionally other conditions.


First, be sure the ferret doesn't have fleas or mites. Fleas you can see easily enough. Mites you can’t see easily. It's uncommon for ferrets to have mites, but it does happen. For this, use a treatment where you apply drops to the back of the neck. This way, when the flea or mite feeds from the ferret, it'll die. (Some mites require medication to get rid of them.) For a ferret, use only Frontline II, Advantage II, Revolution, Selampro, Revolt (either dog or cat), or any product specifically made for a ferret. These are the only ones safe for a ferret. Use about one drop per pound of body weight. It won't hurt the ferret if you use more than two or three drops. However, it works well with a minimum amount and there's no need to put more poison in the animal than needed.


Next, see if the ferret has adrenal disease. Excessive itching is a symptom of adrenal disease. Treating for adrenal disease will usually reduce or get rid of the symptoms, including pruritis. (Melatonin implant, Deslorelin implant, surgery.)


You can ask your vet about trying antihistamines to help with the itching. I've not found Benadryl type antihistamine has any effect. Levocetirizine is an antihistamine that has an effect on some ferrets. Liquid (concentration of 2.5 mg per 5 ml) - Give 6-7 drops daily. The ferret isn’t going to like the taste, so it’s sometimes easier to give the tablet. 5 mg tablet – Crush and mix with 1.7 ml of salmon or other oil. Rub 1-2 drops on the tongue or gums. Treat once a day for two days. If not enough change, treat twice a day for two or three days. If not enough change, double the dosage in the morning and give the normal amount 12 hours later. If the doubled dosage helps during the day, then double it at night too.


If the ferret's diet doesn't have enough fat content in it, it can cause dry itchy skin. Fat content should be near 20%.


You may try giving the ferret a bath with an oatmeal shampoo (recipe below) as often as needed. This will help with dry, itchy skin and clogged pores on the tail (rat tail). It may or may not help with pruritis. 1 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup baking soda, 1-quart warm water. In a food processor or coffee grinder, grind oatmeal until it’s flour. Pour into a bowl and stir in baking soda. Add warm water and stir until well mixed. When you’re ready to use it, wet the pet. Lather with the oatmeal shampoo and allow to sit for 5 minutes if possible. Rinse off and dry.

You can use pet cream rinse after a bath to really help moisturize the skin.


There are also anti-itch sprays you can try. Cover the ferret's head when spraying.


Adding salmon oil to the diet will help with dry skin as well, though many ferrets don’t care for it. Do not add it to the dry kibble, as it can cause the kibble to go bad if not eaten quickly enough. Give it in a dish, added to soup or with a syringe into the side of the mouth.

Example of a ferret with "Rat Tail"

Example of a ferret with "Rat Tail"

When the pores of a ferret's tail get blocked with oils or dirt, the tail loses fur and looks like a rat's tail. Hence the name rat tail. It happens more often with white ferrets because they tend to give off more oils. This isn't a medical condition or disease, just something that needs to be taken care of. You can use mild shampoo to wash and dry the tail daily to clean out the pores. I've had excellent luck with using a human facial cleanser, like Noxzema. If you wash the tail daily for about ten days and the fur doesn't start growing back or if there is fur loss elsewhere besides the tail, then it is likely adrenal disease causing the fur loss.

Ferrets get respiratory infections (congestion, sneezing, runny eyes). It’s akin to us going through a bad cold and it’s miserable for them.  This can be contagious to other ferrets. So, keep the ferret quarantined if possible.
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If proper care isn’t taken, it can turn into pneumonia, which is deadly. When the ferret is sick with a respiratory infection, it usually doesn’t want to eat and drink as much as normal. It is important to keep the ferret hydrated and fed.
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If you can get the ferret to a vet, that is the safest thing to do so you can be sure it’s not already pneumonia or close to it. We generally prefer not to start on antibiotics until we are concerned about pneumonia.  If the ferret is just sneezing though, it’s not likely the vet can diagnose anything. 
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Get some unflavored Pedialyte (generic is fine). Give your ferret this with a syringe, as much as 75 ccs each day. Use Pedialyte in his water bowl/bottle, rather than water. Be sure to refrigerate the Pedialyte. Any left needs to be thrown out after three days. (If the ferret doesn't like the Pedialyte, then don't leave it in the water bowl.)
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Feed a soup mixture to your ferret, using Pedialyte to mix it rather than water (but not if the ferret doesn't like the Pedialyte). If necessary, let the ferret lick the soup off your finger or a baby spoon to get it to eat as much as possible. As a last resort, force-feed the ferret a small amount through the side of the mouth. Be very careful. It is possible for the ferret to inhale some of the soup because of the congestion. This would create pneumonia for sure.
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Run a humidifier in the room where the ferret is kept. If the ferret is lethargic, keep it confined to a cage as much as you can. Cover the cage on all sides and half the front to keep it calmer and warmer
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Give the ferret a steam treatment two to three times a day. Boil a medium or large pot of water. Put the ferret in a carrier or small cage. Put the pot of hot water beside the cage or carrier, then cover it all with a blanket. Make sure the steam from the pot can rise (don’t have the blanket directly over the top of the pot). You want the ferret to be able to breathe in the steam from the hot water to loosen up the congestion. Let the ferret breathe in the steam for five to ten minutes. Lift a corner of the blanket to provide a small vent so it doesn’t get too hot for the ferret.  

Make sure the ferret has plenty of soft blankies in the cage that it can cuddle into to keep warm. You can also put a heating pad on low under some of the blankets, so the ferret can sleep there if it wants to get warmer.

An ulcer can occur from stress, not eating enough, medication, and other things. Stress can include being handled too much, too much noise around the ferret, not enough restful sleep, other animals/ferrets trying to interact with the ferret, and having a prey animal in the house that the ferret wants to kill. The harsh digestive juices increase with stress. When not eating enough, the digestive juices don’t have food to break down, so they start working on the stomach lining.

Symptoms can include: lack of appetite, signs of pain (gnashing teeth, whimpering, watering or squinted eyes), gagging when drinking water (also a sign of nausea), black or tarry stool (indicates stomach ulcer), blood in the stool (indicates intestinal ulcer), lack of activity, stomach
making noises, anemia (from a bleeding ulcer).

Treatment involves several things. First, take away kibble for at least a couple of days and offer soup only. (See info for ferret soup recipe or where to order.) Soup is easier on the stomach and doesn’t aggravate the ulcer. The ferret may not want to eat due to the pain. If so, start
medication and then start giving soup. Force feed if necessary. (Force feed only through the side of the mouth and a very small amount at one time, so you don’t asphyxiate.)

Get the ferret to a vet for further treatment. This is important. An ulcer is deadly. The vet will usually start the ferret on Carafate or Sucralfate. It’s usually prescribed at .5-1 ml two to three times a day. The vet will also likely have you use a human stomach medication like Pepcid, Famotidine, etc. Directions for using stomach medication are below. The vet may also give sub-q fluids if the ferret is dehydrated.

Keep the ferret stress free! Any more stress keeps the ulcer or stomach issue from healing. Stress can be from something as simple as a trip outside of the house, being handled when it’s trying to sleep, bathing, etc.

Pepcid, Famotidine, or Zegerid - The vet may prescribe Famotidine once or twice a day, and Zegerid twice a day. I prefer to use a capsule like Zegerid, as it's easier to mix the powder with something to give to the ferret. Do not give these meds within one hour of giving any other
medication as it will keep that medication from working. It should be given one hour before other medications to prepare a less acidic environment for the other medications. These medications alter the natural bacteria in the gut and should not be used more than ten days in a row. Give a break of at least two days and then restart if necessary. You can ask the vet if you can use over-the-counter medications to save money and prepare it yourself.

It's generally recommended to give the Carafate / Sucralfate after the other medications. You can ask the vet for tablets to save money and prepare it yourself. This is how the rescue vet has us prepare ours. Put 4 ml of water in a dish and add 1/4 tablet. Let soak for a bit. With the
back of a spoon, crush the tablet into a fine powder. Mix with the water well. Give .5 ml twice a day for at least a week. Give about 15 minutes before food.

If the ferret isn't doing a little better within two days, it should be seen by a vet again.

Like cats, ferrets can get 'whisker fatigue.' An animal's whiskers are very sensitive. Eating from a bowl where the whiskers are forced to touch the sides of the bowl overstimulates the whiskers and can be bothersome. Some ferrets will dig the food out of the bowl to keep the whiskers from touching the bowl. Others won't eat soup from a bowl because the whiskers are touching the bowl. It's best to feed in a low-sided dish, like the one in the pic, that's heavy enough that the ferret can't flip it. If you're using an attachable crock, be sure it's a wide one or not deep. Even so, it's better to use a heavy low-sided dish for feeding.

(Example of a good dish to use.)

While ferrets can get worms, they don't get them as easily as dogs and cats. If they come into contact with fecal matter that has worm eggs in it, then there is a real possibility.

If there is a chance the ferret has worms, it should be seen by a vet. Do NOT use over-the-counter worming medication. This is not safe for a ferret and can easily kill them. The medication needs to be for the specific type of worms and the dosage precise to the weight of the ferret.

Revolution and Selapro is a treatment of drops that go on the back of the neck. This kills most types of intestinal parasites (but not all), as well as fleas and ear mites, and is a heartworm preventive. Use 1 1/2 drops per pound of body weight for a ferret. That’s usually two to three drops for a female and three or four for a male. It’s the cheapest to buy the one for large dogs. It’s all the same product.

Most vet offices sell Revolution or Selapro. You can also ask your vet to write a prescription for it, so you can order it online. It's less expensive that way. Some vet offices will match online prices for some products.

You can order Selapro directly from this company without a prescription. https://www.pets-megastore.com.au/revolution-large-teal