From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-11-13 22:00:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Helicobacter or Blockage
Helicobacter may cause dry heaves very rarely, but not usually
repetitively, and not usually as a result of stress. I would look
closely for diarrhea, tarry stools, or tooth grinding, as I think
that a gastric ulcer or ECE could be a likely possibility in this
scenario.
The combination of Amoxi, flagyl, and pepto is appropriate treatment
for helicobacter, but it takes weeks to see a result - the normal
course is 6-8 weeks. Two days of this therapy probably won't make
any noticeable difference.
One bit of advice - if you are thinking seriously about a blockage -
do an exploratory. It is far better to go in and find nothing, than
to wait until her clinical situation has degraded further.
With kindest regards,
bruce williams, dVM
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., sukiecrandall@t... wrote:
> is she defecating? Is she eating and drinking? If the answer to
> any of those is "No." then she needs immediate surgery since a
> complete blockage is rapidly fatal.
>
>
> --- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., not_into_cap@y... wrote:
> > One of our new ferrets went to the vets because of dry heaves.
> She
> > isn't accepting any of the new ferrets no matter how we
> introduce
> > her. She either has Helicobacter or a small blockage. She is
> on
> > amoxy, flagg and pepto bismol for two days to see if this might
> be a
> > blockage instead. Bigs archives doesn't show this as
> contagious, and
> > the only test for Helicobacter is with a stomach test. Since the
> > only signs are dry heaves and stress from being new, we
> aren't sure
> > what might be going on. Yes, a blockage can be life
> threatening. We
> > are providing a number of laxatives with some, but not all the
> luck
> > we had wished for. Any comments?
> >
> > not_into_cap