From:
Stephanie Blue
Date: 2001-07-02 20:01:00 UTC
Subject: very ill ferret, please help
My 5 1/2 year old neutered male became very depressed with
the loss of our 8 1/2 year old female. A week ago Thurs night
(6/24) he became lethargic, vomited once, and has had seedy
(sometimes green) diarrhea. My vet (the only ferret
knowledgeable vet in the area) thinks that he has
helicobactor. She also wants to do adrenal surgery because he
has a bald tail. She thinks the anorexia and diarrhea could
be in part to adrenal tumors. His bald tail is the only
symptom he has ever shown of adrenal tumors. My gut feeling
is not to do surgery, so at this point I am not going to
proceed with that route. Currently he is on Amoxi-drops 1/2
ml BID, metronidazole 0.2 ml BID (when I can get it down him),
chlorphenicol 0.48 ml BID, carafate 1/8 tablet 3-4 times daily
before feeding. I force feed him a mixture of A/D, chicken
baby food, pedialyte and Ferretvite every 4 hours. He is
drinking on his own when I offer it. We ran a complete blood
profile (CBC, Chem 20) and a Urinalysis last week. Besides
being slightly dehydrated at the time, the results were within
normal limits. I am at a loss of what to do next. If anyone
has any suggestions please let me know, I am not ready to
loose him.