From:
miamiferret
Date: 2001-12-18 18:29:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Vomiting ferret
I wouldn't consider vomiting to be a common symptom of gastric
ulcers. If she's been going so long with this problem, I would think
more a partial blockage. Possibly something that is too large to
pass out of the stomach and into the intestine.
A hairball is a good possibility. These can get quite large and then
no amount of hairball remedy will help. Some objects may cause a
temporary blockage, then move out of the way, making the ferret seem
normal or "cured" for a period of time. Been there, done that! My
first ferret had ongoing problems for a few months and exploratory
surgery found two, large rubber disks in his stomach. They were too
large to leave the stomach, but apparently moved around in there,
causing off and on problems.
I understand that even barium scans don't have a 100% success rate at
discovering blockages.
mike
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "C. Vick" <cmvick@u...> wrote:
>
> I'm new to this list, so I'm hoping someone can help me out. I
have three
> ferrets. My oldest female, Bell, is almost 7 years old. She start
> vomiting a couple months ago. Dehydrated, lost a ton of weight,
couldn't
> keep water down. Took her to the vet. Spent a ton of money on x-
rays.
> A small possible mass was there, so we did a barium (barium
alternative,
> actually) x-ray screen. Couldn't quite tell if it was a mass or
stomach
> tissue. At this point she was too weak and tiny (down to just over
a
> pound) for exploratory surgery, so I took her home. Did sub Q
fluids and
> gave her an anti-emetic before eating. Also tried anitbiotics for a
week.
> She seemed to improve, but every couple of weeks, she becomes weak
and
> dehydrated and vomits again. I read some old posts and am thinking
ulcer,
> but how do I tell? Or how do I treat? I read Pepcid AC, is that
> temporary? Or can I use that for long term? I'm thinking about
getting
> hairball medicine too. Any thoughts would be great!
>
> Thanks, Cynthia and Bell