From:
"Caterina Venturelli"
Date: 2003-03-12 18:44:09 UTC
Subject: Recurrent Upset Stomach Help!
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <F42xGEYQUGoUwAAWWBM00020146@hotmail.com>
I have a health problem with my loved ferret Gigio. He is going to be 4
y/o in a couple of months. Two years ago he started having some periods of
time (from one week to up to a month) where he lacked of appetite, probably
every 4-5 months. Basically no other notorious symptoms and often in
coincidence with his shedding season. But in the last year there has been
some new symptoms and more frequent, now every 3 or so months he seems to
have an upset stomach because it starts having some nausea, one or two
nights (it seems that is always at nights) and finally he has one bad night
when he throws up his food a couple of hours after he has eaten (sometimes
sooner), so far it has been always at nights, then he continues with this
nausea sometimes intermittently (one day yes a couple of days no and again
yes) for half a week or so. During this time he eats but less amount, drinks
fine, his poop is normal but thin and scarce (I guess that is because he
eats much less), he does not cough during the day or night or has diarrhea,
but I have the impression that his belly is a bit hard, I normally feel his
intestines and they are soft or hard depending if he has food inside, but
those days I feel his intestines hard all the time even if he has just went
to potty and hasnt had any recent meal. Gigio has had only external
surgeries (chordoma and mast cell tumor). All his blood test have been
normal, being the most recent done in September 2002, by then he was already
showing this problem, since then he has had two periods as I described
previously. About his diet, he spend the first 2 years of his life eating
IAMS kitten food but when the formula changed he didnt wanted it anymore
and we changed to Purina ProPlan kitten, when he started having appetite
problems I had to include in his diet baby food (turkey) mixed with his
kibble at least 1 spoon a day. For the past 4 months in an attempt to give
him healthier food I started mixing into the baby food, some chicken
(boiled breast) twice a day together with his grinded kibble for his lunch
around 2PM and dinner around 9 PM and then he has free access to food (dry
kibble) and water for the rest of the night until the morning, he sleeps in
my room with no cage (in the drawers) that is how I know what is going on
with him at nights. Even if he can eat whenever he wants at nights, he
usually waits until 6AM, rarely he eats around 1 or 2 AM and again around
6AM when he starts visiting his dish but he can go again even after 9AM.
What I want to notice is that he eats 3 or 4 times a day with long spaces of
time in between, but this has been his behavior since very young. During the
day he does not wants dry kibble any more and just will eat his baby food
mix. These days he hasnt been well and I tried for the first time to give
him half centimeter of PeptoBismol at night (because he just present
problems at nights) for 2 days after the day he vomited, he seemed to be
doing fine so I suspended the Pepto one night and then yesterday night I
noticed he has some nausea again (you know how they move their mouths in
discomfort as they salivate) so I gave him some Pepto and he could spend a
good night without further problems. So now I am very concerned about what
this could be. Could it be one of those mysterious blockages that remains
in his stomach for years moving up and down? (he is a good ferret that does
not chews on cloth or rubber but there is always a chance
) Could it be
that he has gastritis or ulcers, perhaps helicobacter? (if so, is it normal
to go on and off every 3 or 4 months?) I have never seen any evidence of
blood (fresh or dry) in his stools. If we go to the vet what has to be
checked? I dont want to do an exploratory surgery on him because I dont
feel confident with the technical experience of vets in Mexico regarding to
ferrets, most of them still use intravenous anesthetics. Please if you
have ideas or suggestions I will appreciate it very much. This ferret is my
kid, he is the only one, he knows that everybody loves him. Thank you.
Cathie and Gigio.
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