From:
fuglemat@online.no
Date: 2004-07-28 19:01:40 UTC
Subject: Possibly enlarged spleen?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <2899730.1091041300416.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
A friend of mine lives in an area without any good ferret vets. Her ferret, a four year old male, has been lethargic and not eating a lot the last few days. He has had the tendency to vomit. She gave him a laxative, which only led to diarrhea.
She took him to the vet (the only one who actually has a book about ferret medicine who lives 80 miles away) who did x-ray, with and without contrast fluid. The vet found a lump far back on the right side when palpating. She thought it was the adrenal gland or a hairball. The vet didn't want to do surgery in the middle of the night, so she gave the ferret a B-vitamine shot and told my friend that she wanted to wait for a couple of days to see if the contrast fluid would work to get the obstruction out (since the fluid is also a laxative).
This was yesterday. Now he's eating a little bit but there is almost no stools. I think the stools are firm and look fairly normal. His ribbones show, but his stomach is big.
I thought the vet might have mistaken the adrenal glands for the spleen. The ferret has had a gastric ulcer earlier and has a history of gastric problems, so it makes kind of sense, but why is his stomach so huge? What kind of tests should she make her vet run?
Some ideas would be greatly appreciated.