From:
Ryan and Tracy Lant
Date: 2001-04-02 04:18:00 UTC
Subject: Charlie....unable to eat solid foods...scratching
alot...advice please
Okay....For those that don't know the Charlie story...
Charlie is a male ferret of undetermined years...I am guessing
1-2 years by his teeth...hardly any transparency on the
canines...this is a guesstimate on my part...but based on my
own ferrets teeth transparency I would guess between 1-2
years.
Charlie was picked up by Fish and Game last November, taken to
a local vet in Sacramento that holds illegal ferrets until
they are taken out of state. He was given distemper...no
rabies.
He started losing hair. They ran an adrenal panel...negative.
However, that means nothing. So they scheduled an exploratory.
It came back negative...but he had a huge hair ball. They also
said his gastrealinstestinal (sp?) tract was inflamed.
His hair loss is intermittent all over his body...nothing
pattern...just sparse covering everywhere. His hair is already
growing back in where they shaved him almost 10 days ago. So I
am guessing it isn't adrenal.
He won't eat kibble. I even ground the kibble in my food
processor, and made a mush with Chicken Baby food, Ensure,
ferretvite, ferretone and vitasol. He eats the liquid around
it and when he get even the tiniest bit of kibble he chokes on
it. He isn't grinding his teeth at all.
He scratches like you would not believe. Trisha, on the acme
board, suggested ear mites...but he was negative for that. The
vet in Sacramento suggested an allergy work up or steroid
therapy.
I am thinking he was just stressed being locked in the back of
a vet office since last November...but the food thing has me
thrown...he is finally scarfing down chicken baby food mixed
with lots of hot water, ferretvite, ferrettone, and vitasol. I
also have some nutrical that I will toss into the next batch
instead of the ferretvite. I just got that from a friend. He
loves it. And has taken ribbons of it off my finger.
I wonder how long he wasn't eating well at the vet and if this
isn't part of the problem.
Okay so I am rambling and this is getting long...but I wanted
to share everything I could remember.
Oh, his poop is black and tarry looking, does this suggest
ulcers...or is it all part of the inflammation they saw? Could
the inflammation be because he wasn't able to eat the kibble
so he wasn't really eating at the vets office?
He is going into the vet tomorrow, Monday, I hope, to have his
staples removed and have a vet I trust look him over.
Thanks
Tracy