Message Number: SG9115 | New FHL Archives Search
From: sprite@ksu.edu
Date: 2004-06-10 14:43:48 UTC
Subject: PU's
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <7315438.1086878091100.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>

I took flagyl myself so I'll share what I experienced.

A strong nasty metallic flavor from the pill, even though I put it as far back in my throat as I could. That taste stayed in my mouth the entire time I took the medication. The longer I took it (14 days) the stronger the bitter metallic taste became.
Painful ulcers on the roof of my mouth.
Extreme nausea.

The only thing that helped a bit with the naste metallic taste was milk. It didn't take it away but it did make it a little more tolerable for a short time (can't drink milk constantly!).

Our vet mixes the flagyl with pet tinic so the dosage we give is either 0.1 or 0.2 orally once a day. I feed them recipe before I give them their medicine. This is a small enough amount that I'm able to put the tip of the syringe in from the side of the mouth to the side/back of the throat so it doesn't get much if any into the mouth area. Then I gently give them a 1 cc syringe of heavy whipping cream, dribbling it in from the front of the mouth. Mine are use to syringes so they readily lap up the dribbles. Giving meds from syringes often brings others over to see what the little one being medicated is getting and I have to be careful that the one needing the meds is getting all of it.

Caution - if your ferret is lactose intolerant the heavy whipping cream may cause diarrhea and/or nausea. Also, I know of one ferret that is highly allergic to milk products.

tle

To: sukiec@optonline.net,
ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
From: Amy Robbin <arobbin@schange.com>
Message-ID: <OF762B2A8E.F62EE264-ON85256EAF.00503C70-85256EAF.00514759@schange.com>

I have an old dude who has had a PU. Sigh...what an expensive, intensive
and painful thing that was.

Critter was about 6 1/2 and had surgery for Prepucial adenocarcinoma and a
PU.
I brought him home on Friday, they had him wrapped in vetrap (over a
papertowel tube) to keep him from bending and getting at the catheter.
That made him more miserable than the actual catheter.

Within two hours he was out of the tube. Put him back in, he was out
again. Checked on him again, catheter was gone. Vet offices were closed.
Local ER wouldn't touch him. Drove 2 hours to the next one, they had no
idea how to catheterize a ferret. Finally x-rayed to get an idea of size
etc. Replaced the catheter and his little body cast.

Before we were even home both the catheter and tube were gone. My poor
ferret was in so much pain, imagine urinating though a raw wound. I was
waiting at the vet's office when they opened Monday morning. The vet
looked and said he would be fine, the catheter will not stay in but the
new hole wouldn't close up. I insisted on him giving me pain meds to
bring home.

Within a few days he was peeing out of two places instead of just the new
one. Then within months the new place that I paid $$$$ for sealed shut
and he was peeing like a boy again...I'm not quite sure there was any
value in doing this surgery as it caused so much pain and wouldn't stay
open. Granted if there were no other options I would do it again...but in
this case I'm not so sure I had to do it in the first place.

That was about two years ago.