From:
Nancy K Wilder
Date: 2001-03-12 16:45:00 UTC
Subject: Daria the wonder ferret
Hello All!!
I have a question about a ferret I've been taking care of for sometime.
I feel like I am at a loss for what could be wrong with her and thought
maybe someone out there could help with suggestions.
Daria is a 2 1/2 year old MF girl - she was surrendered just before
Christmas along with her cagemate, a 5 year old boy. Anyway, the
surrendering party said that she had something wrong, not eating on her
own, losing weight. Apparently, they had bloodwork done at their vet and
everything came back normal. Placed into my hands was a severely
underweight, stressed, and sickly little girl, weighing in at just over 1
pound. I began Amoxi, Sub-q fluids twice a day, carafate and feedings
(Hills A/D) every three hours, round the clock. She had diarrhea
(basically a watery version of what I was putting into her), was grinding
her teeth, and more or less wasting away before my eyes. A few days of
feedings and the vomiting began - everything that went in came out
(projectile at times). Kept up with the feeding/meds routine and added a
dose of hairball remedy every day suspecting a blockage. A fecal was
done, normal and a BG was done - 111. So, Pred was started (.25mL twice
daily) to help with the inflammation from the ulcers basically as a last
resort... she was now under a pound despite all my effort. Amazing turn
around after about 3 pred doses. Also added Tagamet to the regime -
everything started to look better, Daria began eating kibble on her own,
playing, and basically showing an interest in living again. I continued
to feed her the A/D three times a day, including just before her pred
each morning and night. So, I decide to start backing off on the pred
since she's doing so well and things go sour again, she begins to vomit
and have diarrhea again and go. So, without rambling on any further,
every time I try to decrease the pred amt. she goes down the tubes - I've
tried probably 5 times in the past 2 months and she gets sick and stops
eating everytime. I've got her at .20mL twice daily now and if I go any
lower then that (even a tiny amount), she returns to being sick. Could
it be a partial blockage? Insulinoma? neurotic ferret disease?? Just
don't know, I've thought about this little girl so much that I'm just
going nuts.
Thanks!!
Nancy
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