From:
"Cindy"
Date: 2004-01-07 21:15:05 UTC
Subject: Hairball coughing up & in feces (was: RE: Kira got sick, and someTHING came out of her??
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <22279806.1073514924199.JavaMail.nobody@magnesium.smartgroups.com>
My Cocoa boy coughed up a couple of hairballs. One I found by itself and
didn't know who had coughed it up. The second time, my Cocoa behaved
exactly as you described Kira: running from place to place vomiting clear liquid,
and then finally coughing up a hairball that looked like feces and smelled awful.
The first time I took a ferret who had diarrhea into the Vet, thinking this was
the most likely candidate to have coughed up the first hairball. X-rays were
clear.
After this occurred, I watched all five ferrets carefully for signs of distress and
began searching all stools looking for foreign materials. It wasn't long before I
found smaller pieces of hairball in stools. I found them four days in a row over
a weekend. I had already made an appointment for Monday when the first stool
hairball showed up on Friday (first available). But I still didn't know which ferret
was shedding the hairballs. Luckily on Sunday, I witnessed the poo-poo in
progress which turned out to have hairball material. So on Monday, I took four
samples of hairball from Cocoa's feces over the course of four days.
The Vet examined Cocoa and did a couple of X-rays to check for more foreign
material. Cocoa had to be fasted for eight hours before he did the X-ray, which
I luckily now knew from the first ferret x-ray. So if you know the Vet is going
to need an X-ray, go ahead and fast your ferret so that the Vet can X-ray if he/
she wants to. In addition to the X-ray, the Vet had a Tech analyze the hairballs.
Luckily, the Vet found clear X-rays again, and told me to continue monitoring
his stools, which remain clear.
However,the biggest problem turned out to be the analysis of the hairballs
showing that they were man-made threads. The Vet believes the threads are
from the ferrets' bedding, most of which had "sherpa-style" fleece linings (also
called "faux fur"). I had to replace all bedding pieces which did not have a
smooth lining. Their bedding now either has regular smooth fabric or smooth,
high-quality fleece. We haven't had any problems since with hairballs.(The Vet
okayed a sample of Malden Mills fleece (remnants), 200 weight Polartec. This
brand if what is usually used in fine fleece clothing. It is VERY tightly woven,
and sheds very little fuzz when washed and does not pill.)
Final note, just my experience: you will want to monitor stools for any foreign
material. This is a clue to whether or not there is a continuing problem.
Dooks,
Cindy O. & Cocoa, who doesn't have hairballs anymore.
[Always get vet's approval and timing that vet prefers before a fast. If
insulinoma is present -- even if still unknown -- a fast could be a bad idea.]