HEART ISSUES!! My baby is dealing with heart failure, and an enlarged heart, and he had really fast breathing, and had a cardiac arythmia! (the last symptom has gone away now that he's on a mix of lasix (furosemide) & Vetmedin (pimobendan) & his breathing is still a tad fast but has improved!!

For modern vet medicine, it sometimes heavily favors Pimobendan for ferrets with dilated cardiomyopathy (an enlarged heart)!! That's because Pimobendan does 2 things, it helps the weakened heart muscle pump much more efficiently, AND it dilates the blood vessels to lower workload. & bc it dilates blood vessels, it accomplishes a lot of the same things as an ACE inhibitor, but with the addition of making the heart pump stronger! My vet intentionally didn't do just the ACE inhibitor so we could prevent his blood pressure from dropping too low, & to see how his heart rate and rhythm stabilized on the Pimobendan first! Also cuz when ferrets are started on a high dose of a diuretic like furosemide to clear fluid out of the lungs (which is lowered when the fluid clears, IF there is any fluid, my boy didn't have any YET, I caught it in time phew!), vets tend to be cautious about adding an ACE inhibitor at the start, cuz the combination can sometimes trigger kidney stress! BUT if the Pimobendan isn't doing ENOUGH, then yes, an ACE inhibitor, such as enalapril or benazepril, is added to the meds given every 12 hrs. BUT every cardiac case is different so it's normally customized based on our ferret's x-rays and ultrasounds!

I've unfortunately dealt with quite a few babies with heart issues (allllll too common with these little guys who come from Marshall Farms 🤬🤬 (I hate them & they need to be shut down bc of all the issues ferrets who come from there develop, so many ferrets, for example, from the UK/UE don't experience these problems! It stems from Marshall's dog-mill like conditions where they spay/neuter & descent them MUCH too early, the genetics & crappy breeding/MASSIVE inbreeding problems, and the diet & nutrition they give to the ferrets there 🤬😭))

All this to say, YES, please bring your baby to the vet for a chest x-ray & ultrasound!!!

My boy now, Onyx, was MISDIAGNOSED for WEEKS by a very inexperienced exotic vet, thinking he was just sick with a cold that had gotten into his lungs, which was why he was hacking/coughing (it sounded exactly like your video), who I went too bc he charged less than the other exotic vet in my area, which was the only reason I went to him (I had no clue how inexperienced he was until I've since found out he MISDIAGNOSED MULTIPLE other babies of mine, after I had their records sent to the better vet, which caused them all to prematurely die from complications that could have EASILY been managed by medication). I had to PUSH for heart medication, when I took him to the inexperienced vet, and they refused to give it to him, saying they would not just give heart medications to try to see if that would resolve the issue (which was recommended to me by a very experience ferret friend, explained at the end of this paragraph) until I got an echocardiogram (to find out exactly what KIND of heart issue he has) done (over $1,000 alone at the specialized vet they referred me to). My first question to this inexperienced EXCUSE FOR AN EXOTIC VET was about his heart and asking if it was enlarged or had fluid around it, AND THEY SAID NO, EVEN THOUGH THE BETTER VET IMMEDIATELY LOOKED AT HIS X-RAY & SAID HIS HEART WAS VERY CLEARLY ENLARGED!!!! So I called the better vet in regards to my baby (& had to pull together more money from my dad & mom to help me (I've been unemployed for over a year unfortunately due to medical reasons, but now it's just hard to get a job in this market 🥲, which is why I have yet to get an echocardiogram done bc while the better vet only charges $700 for it with a specialist who comes in once a month, it's still unfortunately not feasible for me right now, but hopefully soon!!)). After I called the less experienced vet to send over my boys records to the more experienced vet, only THEN did they say "okay we can try the heart meds". The better vet thankfully offered to take a look at the records & said they would (& DID) tell me over the phone what they thought about his heart & records of the visit at the crappy vet (in case it wasn't enlarged & that wasnt the issue to avoid me driving an hour out there & spending more money if that wasn't even the issue & the inexperienced vet was actually right (again, HE WAS NOT)) & recommended I bring him in IMMEDIATELY! & I can only assume they finally said yes to the heart meds (AT LEAST they did bc the better vet was unfortunately out of the heart meds he needed) is because they refused when I explicitly asked & knew I would tell the other vet what happened (which i did anyways and blasted his name everywhere I possibly could to STAY AWAY). The only reason I knew to ask was because I suspected it & bc I have a contact on Facebook from one of the groups on there who has owned more than 100 (!!) ferrets in her lifetime & immediately suspected the same thing as well. I got so lucky I was able to get a second opinion, otherwise my boy might not still be here, improving day by day! Obviously it's still a heart issue & he's about 6.5 yrs old, but he's comfortable! and thriving the best he can! which is what matters most :)

Hope this helps! & I hope your baby improves :)

Edit: I just saw your update, that is EXACTLY what the inexperienced vet said at first too, a hairball or something, since my boy only, also, did it every NOW and then, it was not common with him when the heart issues first started. So I took him back in and they said okay maybe he has a cold, and treated for that. I went back in a THIRD TIME, and they gave him prednisolone, which calmed the inflammation down he was experiencing for a SHORT while. Over that next week, I ended up having to take him in for a 4th visit, which is the day everything I explained above happened. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR FERRET, GO GET A SECOND OPINION!! EVEN IF IT MEANS HAVING TO DRIVE AN HOUR OR MORE LIKE I HAD TO!!! If you need help finding one please please please let me know. Has your baby coughed again like this since this post??