From:
luvri@hotmail.com
Date: 2001-03-28 23:30:00 UTC
Subject: Re: For Dr. Williams or any vet
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Bruce Williams, DVM" <williams@e...>
wrote:
> --- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., luvri@h... wrote:
> > I have a 2 1/2 year old male who has always been extremely
healthy.
> A
> > couple of weeks ago he started to exhibit some strange habits. He
> > seems to grind his teeth often when eating, which I understand
> > usually means the ferret is experiencing some discomfort or pain.
> He
> > also makes frequent, urgent trips to the litter pan. He pushes
and
> > pushes but only small amounts of his stool come out sometimes,
and
> > sometimes nothing at all.
> > On both visits with our boy, he gave him a shot of Dexamethasone.
>
> Interesting choice - did he mention why?
>
Well, the reason we took him in the first time actually wasn't even
for this problem in particular. At first he was a bit lethargic and
had a whistling sound coming out of his nose while sleeping and was
breathing a bit fast and erratically. He was eating a bit less then,
but I don't believe he was having the problems going to the bathroom.
Originally, the vet was treating him for a respiratory illness
because of these symptoms. After two days, he was no longer having
these problems, but these other things started. When I brought him in
a week later, he had asked if the shot seemed to help with the eating
and it had somewhat, so I think he was really just seeing if it would
give him more of an appetite. I'm not exactly sure if that was the
only reason though.
I did call the vet back this morning and he wants me to bring him in
for a day, so he can try some things and monitor him. I'm bringing
him in this Friday. He said the first thing he is going to do is the
abdominal x-ray and if he doesn't find anything, some bloodwork and a
urine sample (not sure why). He did mention something that a couple
of other people mentioned to me. He said sometimes barium has been
known to actually clear up some intestinal problems before with no
real explanation. Have you seen this before? I'm sure our vet will
eventually find the culprit, but your ideas may just point him in the
right direction. I really appreciate your help. Thank you again.
-Annemarie