From:
RIErickson
Date: 2001-10-09 10:59:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Want some good news about a liver?
A food with concentratednutrition?
Hi Sukie:
I to have a ferret with gastroentinitis. Precious was so bad at one point, that we had to keep injecting her with cortizone shots just to keep her
alive. I did some research and so did my vet and I have now put her on turkey baby food and also the turkey and barley cat food. What a
difference. She is like a new ferret. It seems that the turkey is the easiest to digest. She also gets a generic cordisone that I have to order
through the vet. Hope this info helps you. Good luck
Ivy
Sukie Crandall wrote:
> --
> Now, as many know, Scooter has had on-and-off trouble with liver
> results for about 6 months: bilrubin up, atypical lymphocytosis when
> biopsied, etc. -- never normal, just different levels of not-good.
>
> During this time he has also had chronic gastritis that greatly
> thickened and enlarged his stomach for which we could find no cure,
> and twice had furballs despite precautions. This is a chicken and
> the egg problem: did furballs happen and cause or worsen gastritis,
> or did the gastritis cause him to be unable to handle ingested fur,
> or did each worsen the other? We don't know though we lean toward
> the last explanation.
>
> He also had a left adrenal growth which arrived without symptoms till
> he had an acute urinary blockage.
>
> For about a half year he has been on antibiotics most of the time.
>
> The little guy has been through a lot in six months.
>
> A while ago we decided to find out if he might be allergic to normal
> ferret and cat foods. Folks on the FHL were marvelous, practically
> coming out of the woodwork to suggest alternatives. We settled on
> Hills feline z/d with lamb baby food as a treat. Tooty's results
> have been no less than spectacular. (It took about 3 weeks to see the
> improvement.) He began playing again at normal ferret levels last
> week and his stools have firmed up marvelously, with rectal prolapses
> also stopping and foul odor (beyond normal feces odor) stopping.
>
> Now we have even more good news: his liver blood test results were normal!
>
> As Dr. Bruce Williams explains in part of his article, "Controversy
> and Confusion in Interpretation of Ferret Clinical Pathology" at
> http://www.afip.org/ferrets/Clin_Path/ClinPath.html , and in past FHL
> posts there are liver results that can happen from gastric
> disturbances. We can attest that these can become rather pronounced
> and last for quite an extended time.
>
> BTW, you know how everyone talks about the ferrets needing less of
> the concentrated foods to achieve the same nutrition? Well, it turns
> out that very little z/d is needed to supply enough nutrition even
> compared to the high-quality ferret foods. It strikes me that this
> may be useful information for some sick and recovering ferrets with
> other problems. The volume reduction is amazing. (It is an
> expensive food so he gets most of it: the others get to raid it
> during their daily hours of play and sleep together when it is the
> only food available, then he alone has it at night.)
>
>
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