From:
Melissa
Date: 2003-05-05 14:10:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Proliferative colitis & spastic colon question??
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Cc: Beth341@aol.com
Message-ID: <20030505141000.11236.qmail@web14408.mail.yahoo.com>
--- Beth341@aol.com wrote:
> He has been straining real bad for about a month now
> that left him with a prolapsed rectum. His stool is
> more liquid than solid and always tarry. He was
> finally diagnosed with a proliferative colitis a
> couple of days ago. Not by biopsy, but by his
> symptoms. She put him on Azulfidine. She is also
> weaning him off Prednisone from when he had
> insulinoma (had surgery to remove mass).
>
> However, without the Prednisone and with Azulfidine,
> he has gone from bad to MUCH worse.
I have been giving him extra lax to help
> him. Vet mentioned he might have a spastic colon and
> to increase his Lomotil dose.
Beth --
If the colon is inflamed, the pred might have been
keeping the inflamation down -- now that it is being
discontinued, the symptoms are worse. If this is
proliferative bowel, I am surprised she is not giving
clavamox. Perhaps that's another name for one of the
drugs you mentioned? Proliferative bowel usually
starts to greatly improve after about 3 doses of the
proper antibiotics.
I am not famiilar with the drugs you are giving, but
if the clavamox has already been tried, or if you try
it and it doesn't work, I suggest trying
flagyl/metronidazole. It is both an antibiotic and an
anti-inflamatory, and is frequently prescribed for
ferrets with bowel disorders/problems. Get it as
concentrated as you can and just put the dose in a
tablespoon of warm chicken or turkey baby food and it
will go right down. Do not attempt getting this
flavored in a suspension - it will only stress the
ferret out as its taste is apparently universally
hated no matter what the flavor.
Also switch to a bland diet to avoid further
irritating the colon. And stop the lax completely -
the problem is that the stool is going through too
quickly, not that it's going too slowly. He is
straining unproductively b/c he is having cramps in
his colon -- this is not unusual when the ferret's
colon is irritated. It can even progress to vomiting,
if the cramps in the colon are bad enough, because the
stomach and colon are so close together.
Your vet may also try giving him a shot (injection) of
tagamet to settle his stomach and some under-the-skin
fluids, as he's probably dehydrated from the diarhea.
This should perk him up a bit and help him to eat
something (always good when they're not feeling well).
I would also suggest having a complete blood workup to
look for underlying illnesses -- it is rare that a
ferret develops bowel problems as a single illness.
It is more common to have it accompany an underlying,
long-term illness such as insulinoma or adrenal
disorder.
Best of luck
Melissa
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