Q: My ferret, Mia, is sleeping 21 hours per day… When she is awake, she is very lethargic. What causes excessive sleeping in ferrets?
A: Normal ferrets sleep 14 hours per day. A ferret who is dehydrated will not eat or drink is lethargic. Fleas also cause serious anemia-induced lethargy. It only takes a few fleas to put a ferret in serious condition. Other causes of sleeping too much in ferrets:
- Heat. It’s summertime (for most of us) and that can make them sleepy and they eat less. Ferrets do better in cool temperatures.
- “Winter” mode. One more observation is that we have had a lot of ferrets that go into “winter mode” where they sleep more and play less. Onset varies among ferrets.
- Pain meds. If he has pain meds on board, particularly Bupe they will zonk him right out, Pippin had that for his degloving foot injury and peed himself and was really out of it until it wore off.
- Insulinoma. Insulinoma causes behaviour such as sleeping too much, general blahness/not wanting to play, ulcers, grinding teeth and excessive licking the chops. Also look at the stool – keep track of changes and how long they aren’t as normal…and if they get all that bad, she may need to see the vet & maybe get on antibiotics.
- Blood Glucose. Low blood glucose in ferrets is a sign of insulinoma. It can cause lethargy, weakness, disorientation, hind limb weakness/paralysis, seizures, and eventually death.
- ECE Disease. If she’s from a petstore or even if she’s just new she could very likely have ECE which causes nasty poops (runny/green, usually green but not all cases of ECE cause green poops), lethargy, loss of appetite and weight loss.
- Adrenal Disease. Sleeping too much, excessive itching, hair loss on the tail, belly and shoulder blades can be signs of Adrenal disease in ferrets.
- An off day. Your ferret may just be having an off day, it happens with ferrets sometimes. Perhaps he has an ulcer that is acting up and his tummy hurts, if he still doesn’t want to eat breakfast in the morning a Vet visit might be a good idea, to make sure. If your ferret is on medications, maybe his pred/carafate dosage needs to be adjusted.
The best treatment from all I have read is to get them settled on a good dose of pred that works for them and get them stabilized. The vet should prescribe carafate or something similar that is given 30 min before the pred to protect the tummy as the pred can cause ulcers and upset tummy.
Blood Sugar and Too Much Sleep
Ferrets are not nocturnal, but crepuscular. Being crepuscular means ferrets adjust their sleeping habits to stay awake when you want to play, and sleep at inactive times.
If your ferret is sleeping when you normally play, looks lethargic, weak, or has a sudden loss of energy, rub one quarter teaspoon of karo syrup on their gums. If your ferret immediately perks up and has lots of energy, they have low blood sugar, which is a symptom of adrenal disease, lymphoma, ECE, or insulinoma.
If your ferret doesn’t pass the blood sugar test, is sleeping too much, is suddenly weak or has a loss of energy, go to the vet for an extensive blood test and a barium x-ray, to check for intestinal blockages.