Message Number: SG3385 | New FHL Archives Search
From: sukiec@optonline.com
Date: 2003-02-24 19:22:40 UTC
Subject: RE: refusal to eat
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <7431015.1046114560061.JavaMail.root@scandium>

The rule of thumb around here is that those symptoms tend to result in emergency stomach surgery to remove yet more blockages.

We've had two ferrets with blockages. One was eating on hammocks with a lot of fake fleece and in sleep sacks with a lot of fake fur. He had two furballs that turned out to be mainly these manufactured fibers. I covered the bedding with sheeting material and he never had a problem again. The other ferret had a malformed stomach and he had 4 stomach surgeries over his lifetime but his stomach had problems closer and closer as it's functioning reduced till it finally took him.

I'd get to the vet immediately and expect surgery on an emergency basis and possibly being needed.

Also, remember that passing fur ball can be hard on them and can cause tearing in the GI tract. In twenty years we have had only two ferrets ever pass furballs through the intestines.