From:
maria.harland@marquette.edu
Date: 2004-09-19 02:04:43 UTC
Subject: Help! My ferret is sick
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <5023439.1095559483592.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
My ferret Julia (female, 6 months) has been ill lately. Initially, she beg=
an vomiting, grinding her teeth, not eating too much and had some small bla=
ck stools, so we finally took her to emergency care on the evening of tuesd=
ay 9/7/04. We thought she may have eaten a teething toy (which we later di=
scovered was intended for dogs) given to us by the pet store when we got he=
r. Some of the toy particulates had come out in her stool at the time when=
her other symptoms were begining, so she was treated with amoxicillin, met=
ronidazole (for helicobacter induced ulcer), and sucralfate. We took her t=
o her physician the following Sunday 9/12/04 and he examined her, concludin=
g that she was fine and had most likely eaten something that hadn't agreed =
with her. She was back to normal (regular eating and behavior patterns) fo=
r a couple of days, but later we found that Julia had a few hiding spots wh=
ere she kept many pieces of the teething toy. She may have ingested some a=
gain as she began her vomiting cycles again (9/14/04) and is currently not =
drinking or eating unless we force her via syringes. This time she's disch=
arged some green vomit on two ocasions (yesterday and today) and even more =
baffling are her last three stools. They are tiny with the consistancy of =
soft rubber when first discharged. Two (from yesterday) are orange/red in =
color and the third (from today), when first discharged was a tan color muc=
h like the the baby food (chicken) we started syringe-feeding her, but is b=
ecoming red as water is evaporating from it.
Also, her skin near her neck has become puddy-like in that you can pinch it=
and it remains pinched after letting go. I think this may be a result of =
dehydration (I'm certainly no doctor) and I am wondering if her stools are =
a result of dehydration as well, or something else having to do with the sy=
mptoms I've listed. Attached are pictures of her 3 stools, the green vomit=
and a picture of the lethargic expression on her face. =
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