From:
team-machine
Date: 2001-12-15 01:43:00 UTC
Subject: [Ferret-Health-list] "Soft" Stools
Hi', I'm not clear as to why you are avoiding chicken? Maybe I missed
something in the posts? Either way have you considered Hills i/d
(intestinal diet) It is 36.9% protein,18.6% fat,<2% fiber and carbs are29.0%
or even the Euk Low-Residue? These are cat foods but very good ones for GI
upsets. Boy, someone needs to come up with a GI formula for our poor little
ferrets ! I read on the list to have you try Euk Lamb/Rice because of the
chicken issue. Unfortunantly, it too has chicken in it. But even the lamb
can be too rich to digest causing upset.I hope you find something that
works! KM----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Vaughn" <rvaughn@p...>
To: <Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 2:39 PM
> Hi,
>
> I've read over recent posts about loose stools, but I still have some
question
> about my ferret Digger's condition. Since we got him in June (from a
chain
> store, no breeding cert.), his stools have been "soft" - not loose, not
runny,
> but squishy - and dark. They will actually vary in consistency from the
> occasional runny, to foamy, to wet bird-seed, to formed but soft and wet,
to
> the very occasional almost-firm stool. Most of them are the formed but
soft
> and wet variety. Lately many also have a dark green tint which becomes
> apparent when they are cleaned up.
>
> Two months ago we had a scare with him when he vomited and panicked. He
was
> being treated for an ear infection at the time. We took him to the
hospital,
> and he ended up undergoing an exploratory (poor guy isn't even a year old)
> which found only excess gas and fluids in his stomach, but no blockage. A
> stomach tissue biopsy indicated some evidence of eosinophilia but showed
> negative for heliobacter. The lab ruled it eosinophilic gastroenteritis,
and
> he was treated with cephalexin. A CBC (complete blood count) was not done
at
> the time.
>
> Since that time he has healed well, but the stools haven't changed. Our
vet
> has thought his bowels were inflamed on repeated rechecks, so he has been
on
> and off of pred, chloramphenicol, and now sucralfate. Two weeks ago I
finally
> had the CBC done, and all of the numbers came back good except for a PCV
of
> about 25, indicating anemia. Peripheral eosinophilia was negative. (We
used a
> lab with ferret specialists this time...)
>
> Digger is active and happy and doesn't seem to be in any pain, but his
stools
> do not respond to any of the meds. The anemia coupled with the stools
seems to
> indicate gastric ulcers, but we can't seem to find any root cause, or
control
> the symptoms. I (as a layperson, not a vet!) would almost think this was
a
> case of ECE, except that the stools don't seem to be clearing up.
>
> Oh - we tried the obvious first - for food he's been through Marshall's,
8-in-1
> Ultimate, and now Zupreem with no apparent change. I'm going to try the
> Gerber's, but haven't yet.
>
> Is this something that normally happens to ferrets? Is there another
> diagnostic we can use to try to narrow this down, or do we just rule it
non-
> specific enteritis and hope it goes away?
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>
> roger
>
>
>
>
>
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