From:
sebestianpup@yahoo.com
Date: 2001-05-13 08:29:00 UTC
Subject: Re: repeated passing of blood
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., ferretsonly@h... wrote:
> We need some ideas here. Sorry for the book...
>
> Male ferret, Marshall Farms, app. 2 years old, dark sable with
white
> toes, 1475 grams, 23.5 inches long who loves flagyl (not a typo)
and
> loves kissing, seeks female -- oops wrong forum.
>
> Symptoms: 5 to 6 episodes (in 6 months) of vomiting followed by the
> passing of frank blood from the anus. Sometimes the blood is in
the
> form of clots and other times just massive amounts of blood.
>
> History: I've had R2 since November 25, 2000. He shares a cage
with
> 5 friends. One of those ferrets is Aleutian's positive as are
three
> others in my home (I have 15 altogether). All ferrets were ELISA
> tested on March 31st. All were negative except the known
positives.
> Note: The Aleutian's appears to be the non-active variety (is this
> correct?) as my other ferrets have lived for 5-6 years with a
> positive ferret and none have become positive.
>
> It's possible that R2 had one episode of bloody diarrhea in the
> November 20-25th time-frame.
>
> On Christmas morning, his vomiting woke me up at 7am. He vomited
for
> about 15 minutes then appeared completely normal. He acted like he
> wanted out of the cage so I put him down with his friends. He then
> proceeded to pass a long "string" of blood. When he shook, blood
> when up the wall about 3 feet. The emergency clinic gave him
flagyl,
> baytril, carafate, and reglan. We also gave him fluids. The next
> day, he seemed 100% normal. He continued on this regime for 14
days
> (through 1/8).
>
> On 1/10, R2 started vomiting again (no blood noticed). We treated
> him with the same course - thinking he just hadn't shook the bug.
>
> On 2/6, R2 started vomiting and passing blood again. We treated him
> with the same course but added acidophilus and kept him on carafate
> for 4 weeks.
>
> On 3/19, one of the ferrets passed a bloody stool on the kitchen
> floor. Suspecting R2, I took him in for blood work (CBC + Chem
27).
> *Everything* was normal except:
>
> globulin 3.7
> albumin 2.9
> cholesterol 90 (I'm jealous)
> HGB 18.2
> lymphocytes 61
>
> (I have all the values here if that would help). On day 10 of the
> treatment, we added Imuran (0.26 every third day) which continues
to
> this day. Because of the elevated globulin, we did the ELISA
test.
> We also tested (abet only once) for coccidia (negative).
>
> On 4/30, R2 started vomiting again and passed enough blood to make
my
> husband (and me for that matter) ill. We started him on flagyl,
> amoxi, carafate, and reglan.
>
> R2 *never* gives me any warning that he is getting sick and within
2
> days of starting treatment, he is his wild self again. He mostly
eats
> Totally Ferret (not a recalled bag) but has access to equal mixture
> of TF, Iams Lamb and Rice, Innova, and Eukanuba. He gets a warm
bowl
> of Bob's Chicken Soup nightly, which he loves. The water bowl is
> cleaned twice daily as is the litter pan. R2 gets out of the cage
at
> least twice daily for 1-3 hours each time and acts like my other
> healthy 2 year olds. None of my other ferrets are ill.
>
> Ok. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
>
> -Carla