From:
macdoodle99@yahoo.com
Date: 2001-03-24 13:52:00 UTC
Subject: teeth grinding, ulcer? obstruction?
My ferret Mackenzie is 7 years old. At age 2 1/2 she was diagnosed
with gastric ulcers. She had a complete resolution. Currently, for
the last week she seems to have symptoms again. It started with a
loss of appetite, then lip smacking after eating. The few stools she
has are not black and tarry. Frequently she will take a kibble or
cheerios into her mouth and chew it up but lets the chewed up pieces
fall out of her mouth. I thought maybe she was coming down with
ulcers again so I took her to the vet. She thought she might have an
oral ulcer causing pain with eating so she gave Mackenzie some
amoxicillin. She also gave me some carafate, which I requested
because that is what I treated her gastric ulcers with the first time.
(Along with the amox and flagyl for helicobacter). She doesn't seem
to be responding this time and in fact is now grinding her teeth
every time she eats anything. When she first had ulcers she actually
had an appetite and tried to eat but seemed to be adversely affected
by eating. Currently she just doesn't seem to want to eat at all.
Last night, about 6 hours after her last meal, she began vomiting and
either dry-heaving or spitting up and then swallowing it again. She
has never done this before. She does continue to have about 1-2
stools per day which aren't exactly normal because she is not eating
normally, but are not diarrhea and are not black or green or
mucousy.
Her symptoms seem similar but different from her gastric ulcers. So
I am wondering if something else is going on. When I first did my
research on gastric ulcers, I thought I remembered reading that
intestinal obstruction can cause similar symptoms. I have never seen
her eat or swallow non edible stuff that might obstruct her. She did
have adrenal surgery last year. In humans abdominal surgery can
result in adhesions that cause complete or partial obstruction. I
don't know if there is anything else which may be causing these
symptoms.
If anyone has any suggestions which I can pass on to my vet I would
appreciate it.
Thanks Kristina and Mackenzie