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My 3.5-year-old ferret is lethargic. Is his spleen the issue?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Small Animal | Ferret | Male | neutered | 3 years and 4 months old | 2.4 lbs

What side of the body is a ferrets spleen on? I want to palpate my ferrets spleen because my spidey senses are tingling. He is 3.5 years old, and has become very lethargic. I chalked it up to him being depressed because he doesn't like the newcomer ferret very much it seems. He constantly is bugging my Willy, and well, its been just Willy and me up until now. I did a quarantine of a week and all was good up until Gus the magic school bus started dominating my little dude.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Emi Knafo, DVM, DACZM

Veterinarian, Board-Certified Zoological Medicine Specialist

Published on May 10th, 2019

Hello! Willy is quite adorable in those pictures! A ferrets spleen is on the left side of the abdomen. However it may be challenging to feel in a wiggly ferret by yourself. You also want to be very careful when feeling organs in any animals abdomen, as the organs can be damaged or traumatized if handled too roughly. If you are worried that Willy has been a bit lethargic lately, the best thing would be to have a complete physical exam and possibly some testing done by a veterinarian experienced with ferrets. At his age, he could certainly have many different things going on, and only a few might cause a change in the size or shape of the spleen. That’s why a head to toe exam would be the best thing! I hope that helped answer your question. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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