From:
williamsb@comcast.net
Date: 2002-07-24 02:02:43 UTC
Subject: RE: Other reasons for gritting teeth
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <89326.1027476163282.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Dear Linda:
Grinding teeth is a sign of abdominal pain. Gastric ulcers are of course the most common cause, but not the only one. In my experience, some foreign bodies can result in abdominal pain, and the rare GI tumor.
With yellow birdseedy stools, I would suggest that there is a degree of maldigestion, and gastric ulcers generally do not cause this particular sign, at least not on their own.
You may want to consider some form of IBD in this case. While prednisone is often used in the tretament of IBD, I have not seen much success with injectable forms (oral forms have significantly better effect against the inflammation associated with most cases of IBD.
In this particular case, you may want to discuss the possibility of an exploratory and possibly biopsying the stomach, intestine, and anything else suspicious in there.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
Author wrote:
> I took my ferret into the vet because he stopped eating. Of course the
> night before the vet visit, he started eating again on his own. However,
> he grits his teeth when he eats. Not after he's done eating, but as he
> is actually eating the food. We have tried to treat for ulcers, giving
> antibiotics and carafate, and tagament, plus he gave him a prednisone shot.
> We did a blood test, and everything came out normal, nothing to be concerned
> about. He had the fecal test done, no parasites or problems found. His
> stools are yellowish and birdseedy, although now that he is eating solid
> food again, they are well formed. This problem has been on and off for months.
> Next the vet wants to clean the ferret's teeth since they are pretty bad
> looking and may be causing him pain. That will be done on Thursday.
> Could there be other reasons he is gritting his teeth? Or perhaps if the
> teeth cleaning doesn't do the job should we move into strong antibiotics
> in case it is still heliobactor or ulcers causing the problem. He has
> him on sulfatrim now.
> Has anyone dealt with this before? Any ideas?
> Linda