From:
kestrelinden@yahoo.com
Date: 2004-04-18 11:00:14 UTC
Subject: Another Gastric Ulcer Question
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <2435704.1082286014639.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Last night before bed Paxie had a greenish stool that was pretty well formed, had a lot of oil in it (ferretone) and quite a few bits of what looks like her fine undercoat. Partial blockage coming out? This morning Paxie had an almost normal stool again. Part of it was almost formed well but still had a bit of the pea green color I suspect is from the extra ferretone. Part of it was formed normal and colored normal. There was a good amount, the most solid food she's eaten in a week. She urinated this morning a little as well.
My question, I asked my partner last night to watch her with me after she fed, as I've noticed that consistently right after feeding her she will find a litter box and dig through it or find something to scratch on like a blanket. I mentioned this to both vets and explained her stressful life history, but neither suspects gastric ulcer. Neither does my partner. And of course, when I asked him to watch her with me she didn't dig at all.
This morning without my partner I could only get her to eat a little ferretone with her Clavamox, at which point she did all the digging she'd been doing for me and refused any food on my finger covered with tone. Up to this point she's at least fed with me before digging. This was dig first, refuse food. I went to try the syringe method with no success and didn't push it after one try of that. I will get dad to try and feed her when he wakes up later.
I just don't know what to do here, neither of the two vets she's seen thinks it's an ulcer and my partner doesn't want to treat her with pepto bismol or carafate without the vet okaying, which I understand, but, what do I do? I'll be calling her vet later today if I can't get this girl to eat. So, that wasn't really a question here.
Here's a better one. As to pepto bismol or carafate, what are the pros and cons of each for treating an ulcer? Since we don't know for sure it's an ulcer, would pepto be a better route? Should I just wait even longer and watch her struggle with eating? Would an ulcer be a cause of not wanting to drink? How does her UTI or blood in the urine fit into this story? I realize there may not be answers to some of these, but they are the thoughts running through my mind and I need to try to find an answer.
I'm so not ready to lose this girl. Her spirit is so strong and her body is making apparent progress. Her lethargy is waning with the calories we've gotten in her, but we've got to get this figured out and get her drinking and eating on her own. I've spent $300 so far and don't even have a diagnosis.
Hoping and waiting,
Maureen, Pax, and NikkoBear