From:
cathy.pardue@cnalife.com
Date: 2001-05-18 15:44:00 UTC
Subject: Re: 2nd request; repeated passing of blood
Carla, I'm leaving your message attached below, haven't seen any
responses on this one, so if a vet has any ideas, please share with
us. I'm not a vet, but I frequently pay them money (worrywart
syndrome), the only thing I can think would be have an ultrasound to
check for blockages. Everyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong,
but I think it's possible to have a partial blockage and the symptoms
may come and go. Could it be that maybe the blockage is trying to pass
and causing tears in the intestinal wall, resulting in the passing of
frank blood? Maybe the treatment is helping to heal the tears but they
keep recurring. The only other thought I had is some degenerative
illness of the bowels or intestines (are those the same thing? anatomy
is not my forte).
Good luck, and let us know if you find out the problem.
> I originally posted this on Friday. Today is the last day R2 is on
> his meds so I'm hoping to get some ideas before he gets sick again.
> I've heard from one other person with a similar problem with her 1
> year old. Any suggestions are appreciated.
>
> -Carla
>
> 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 (before I had him).
>
> 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.