From:
Dr. Bruce Williams
Date: 2001-02-25 11:31:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Intermittent blood in stools/chronic diarrhea
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., Erika Matulich <ematulich@a...> wrote:
> However, ever since the ECE, Tito has had intermittent bloody
stools. He
> will look fine for about 4-5 days, have fairly normal poops, and
then a
> day where he feels terrible, poops pools of blood and/or mucous, and
> won't eat. This stage lasts for about 24-36 hours, and then he is
back
> to normal, eating well. Dr. K gave him a shot for worms a few
months
> ago (I'm sorry, I forgot which type of shot or which type of worms,
but
> something having to do with Tito growing up with a Rottweiler) --
she
> had seen a few cases of intermittent bloody stools that were caused
by
> these worms. However, this did not help either. Dr. Kemmerer will be
> running a barium series on him next week -- we haven't found a
thing on
> palpation dealing with a blockage. His blood tests are now all
normal.
Dear Erika:
One possibility in a fairly young male ferret for waxing and waning
GI signs which result in blood and mucus in the stools would have to
be proliferative colitis, a bacterial infection of the colon. This
is a condition which is often related to stress, and has another
clinical sign of increased frequency and some discomfort when
defecating.
The diagnosis of proliferative colitis is only definitively made by
colonic biopsy, although clinical signs and pain on palpation with
thickening of the colon may be seen on physical exam.
Treatment of PC is with chloramphenicol, and symptoms may recur off
and on for the lifetime of the ferret.
Dr. Kemmerer knows her stuff, and I'm sure that she is already
considering this as an option.
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM
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