From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-04-03 00:32:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Charlie...possible ulcers.
our 6.25 year old female ferret stopped eating several days
ago, her
feces is tar like and under examination contains blood, she
has lost
25% of her body weight. she can hardly walk.
she has zero appetite, weare force feeding her a solution of
nutrical
disolved in water. she is being given .25 ml of antibiotics,
and
today we put her on prednizone.
what are we to do. i have two ferrets now, and we had
another that
past away at age 6.5 yrs. has anyone seen a ferret that has
lived
past 7 yrs????
exploratory surgery??? i have yet to meet a vet that has
any clue at
all, (there was a guy in waere, nh that was pritty good) but
thats a
long trip from new york.
IMMEDIATE RESPONSE FROM THOSE THAT CAN HELP IS APPRECIATED!
Sounds like an ulcer. If you search under ulcer, under tarry,
or under carafate you will find a number of past posts on
this topic in the Ferret Health List archives available at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
Here is the ulcer-related part of an earlier vet response on
this topic:
Hi Tracy,
Yes, black tarry stools is digested blood.
Since he is not eating well and passing tarry stools
then ulcers are likely. Some ferrets will develop ulcers
after surgery like people can. Start with A/D and/or Gerbers
baby food
and Carafate and see how he does. Some will also need
antibiotic therapy (if there is Heli. causing the ulcers).
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM
Yes, some ferrets can and do live longer than 7; part of the
aim of the FHL is to make health information readily available
so that the proportion of ferrets doing so and staying happily
active increases. We all get to learn here.
Get the ulceration under control first, and then look into
doing one of the helicobacter treatment routines once the
ferret will not falter due to added stress. If one routine
doesn't work then you can try an alternative; we are having to
do that now for Scooter.