Message Number: SG4345 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "Stephanie"
Date: 2003-05-04 06:42:24 UTC
Subject: Frank Blood in Bowel Movement
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <000f01c31208$5241ace0$87bfc318@computer>

Hello everyone. We have been to the vet for this initially and will probab=
ly be going back but I would like to arm myself with more information/possi=
bilities.

I have a 2 year old MF male neutered silver mitt ferret approximately 2.2lb=
s. (Age is documented and known) Has been healthy until these recent epis=
odes.

On April 15th at 1am he passed a bowel movement that was almost completely =
mucus with frank blood in it (red, not black and tarry) and EXTREMELY foul =
smelling (like rotting fish). No similar bowel movements were found in the=
litter pans. His activity was completely normal, hydration was good, mucu=
s membranes normal. Was taken to our vet the following afternoon. No othe=
r such bowel movements were noted in litter pans. He had a completely norm=
al BM when observed. Upon examination at vet, only significant finding was=
"ropey" intestinal tract. Everything else during exam was normal. Fecal =
was done on abnormal BM from the previous am- no parasites, no eggs, no abn=
ormal amounts of bacteria noted on gram stain. Bloodwork (CBC and Chem) wa=
s done one year ago and was within normal limits across the board

Our ferret was then put on Clavamox, Metronitazole and Pepto Bismol for 7 d=
ays and separated from other 2 ferrets for observation. He ate and drank n=
ormal. Only produced one other BM that came close to the one in which we t=
reating, but it was only partially mucus and had one speck of blood present=
about 3 days into treatment. No further strange BM's noted.

Now tonight when cleaning the litter pans in the cage I noted there was a m=
ucusy BM in the pan. Was going to watch the ferret that had problem before=
and while doing some work in kitchen, turned around and found another BM i=
dentical to initial one on April 15th (full of mucus with frank blood-very=
little fecal material). Again the time frame was at 1am ( My husband work=
s late evenings and nights so this is not an unusual time for us to interac=
t with them.) I am not positive that it was the same ferret, as all 3 were=
running around, but he was in the area prior to me noticing the BM.

The only thing common between the two incidents was they had a full groomin=
g session (bath, ears cleaned, teeth brushed, nails trimmed) about 2.5 days=
prior to BM incident. There is nothing that we have used in these two cas=
es that we have not used previously. In this recent case, he was also give=
n his monthly heartworm preventative (1/2 Heartgard for cats under 5 lbs as=
prescribed following negative test) and we made a 8 hour round trip to hav=
e him evaluated for adrenal disease and surgery. He was determined to not =
have conclusive signs and at his age would prefer to wait for more signific=
ant signs (only sign was small amt of hair loss at tip of tail) before perf=
orming surgery.

I am looking for information/thoughts on what we might be dealing with and =
treatment protocols (if it is obvious what it is). Our vet mentioned somet=
hing about running bloodwork and looking at Eosinophilic problem (I am gues=
sing she was talking about Eosinophilic Enteritis). The only other thing I=
found while searching was a comment about proliferative colitis that seeme=
d to match what I am dealing with. =

Thank you so much for you help. I apologize for the post being so long but=
history was important. Please feel free to email me privately if you so=
wish at sgoettsc@nycap.rr.com

Stephanie Goettsch