From:
Christopher
Date: 2001-03-02 13:11:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Hair balls
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Jim & Laura Ferris" <jlferris@s...>
wrote:
> Since I posted about the possible hairball in my ferret Panda, I
talked to the vet. He said that when Panda was in recently in there
was no hairball because you can feel them. Instead he suggested that
maybe Panda has an ulcer and gave me directions of giving him
Tagament 10 ml x 2 for a week and then get back to him.
> Laura
If you could palapate a hairball in the stomach we would save a
fortune on barium x-rays that are non-conclusive. Notice the two
hairballs on the main screen of our website. The big one never showed
up on an x-ray and you couldn't "feel it" Took an exploratory to
find it. It was there, if you could feel them why would they go
through all of that? The second one didn't show up on x-ray in
December but was caught in Feb. and you couldn't feel it either.
There is no reason I can think of that laxatone would be
contraindicated in an ulcer. So, I think I would want a second
opinion and until I got one I would be giving laxatone 1/2 teaspoon a
day for three days and praying for a hairball to pass. Then 1/4
teaspoon three times a week till we are well past the shedding season.
(Personal note - Don't give your ferrets laxatone just before taking
them shopping! My guys love to ride in the buggy at Lowe's or
Petsmart and since they are welcome at both places I sometimes pile
them in the truck and take them with me. We are in high shed around
here, so as I was getting everyone ready to go, I went ahead and gave
them their laxatone ... I'll let your imagination tell you the rest
of the story. Oh, if you do take your ferts shopping, take a roll of
paper towels and a plastic shopping bag. Accidents do happen,
petsmart provides these but it less embarassing if you have your own.)