From:
"Karen Purcell, DVM"
Date: 2002-07-30 18:51:20 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Mucus in stools
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
CC: "Roger Vaughn" <rvaughn@pobox.com>
Message-Id: <200207302245.SAA27924@TheWorld.com>
Mr. Vaughn,
> What does mucus in a ferret's stool indicate?
Usually it indicates irritation of the colon/rectum.
>
> We have one little guy who has been losing weight steadily for months.
> His stools are formed but soft, bird-seedy, and more often than not are
> filled with mucus, sometimes greenish, sometimes not. This isn't a
> green slime poop, it's more composed of bird seed bits held together by
> mucus.
>
> A few weeks ago I put this little guy on a daily supplement of chicken
> gravy with heavy cream. We managed to stabilize his weight and even
> put a couple of ounces back on, but the stools still concern me.
>
> He's a little over a year old and is just as lively as he can be, so
> I'm baffled as to what's going on with the little guy. His digestion
> has never been great, and we may have seen an episode of ECE late last
> year, but he didn't start the weight loss until this year.
>
I'd get a biopsy, I'm very suspicious of some sort of infiltrative
intestinal disease - eosinophilic gastroenteritis or IBD come to
mind.
BTW, do you have relatives in upstate NY? My sister married a
Vaughn...
-Dr. Karen
drkaren@theworld.com
Everett, MA
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