From:
mustelidmom
Date: 2002-06-26 00:43:00 UTC
Subject:
Hi, everyone.
I took Chocolate Moose to the vet today and brought along all the
information from Dr. Williams about IBD plus other stuff about gastric
ulcers and an e-mail from another lady whose ferret had similar
symptoms and eventually died of IBD. The vet seemed to be pretty
farmiliar with IBD already and he could feel lots of gas bubbles in
Moose's intestines. He examined Moose's stool under a microscope and
said he found epithelial cells sloughed off from his intestines as
well as a lot of yeast. He thinks the yeast is probably a secondary
problem but is having me administer Nystatin once a day for that in
addition to Clavamox, metronidazole, and Kaopectate (or Pepto-Bismol -
- my choice) twice daily for the intestinal disorder.
If Moose doesn't seem better by Monday, then he wants to add
Prednisone as well. I was actually thinking it might be good to start
the Pred today, but I presume the vet wants to treat for Helicobacter
first and see if that helps. The Kaopectate is to coat his
intestines. Of course, Moose hated the metronidazole and spit some of
it and the Kaopectate onto me, but that's all right. I think he
swallowed most of the meds (I inserted them into the little pouch
formed by his cheek on the side of his mouth). I added some pineapple
juice and sugar to the metronidazole but it's still pretty bitter.
If all that doesn't work, the vet wants to do an intestinal AND a
liver biopsy. He's concerned about the elevated hepatic enzymes in
Moose's last blood test. He says there is evidence of liver
infections in ferrets based on a conversation with a well-known
ferret vet and that liver infections can cause intestinal problems. I
would much rather just do an intestinal biopsy via endoscopy because
it's less invasive. This vet does not have a small enough device to
do endoscopy in a ferret, so we would be looking at major surgery.
I'm concerned about that -- if anyone knows of a vet in New Mexico
who can do a ferret endoscopy, I'd like to know about him/her -- and
I'm also wondering if it would be better to try Imuran before doing a
biopsy at all. And I'm wondering if it's really necessary to do a
liver biopsy (of course, if he's doing major surgery, then he might
as well).
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
Linda and Chocolate Moose (who is resting after all the excitement
and loves his chicken baby food)