From:
mjanke@miamiferret.org
Date: 2005-03-09 00:13:00 UTC
Subject: RE: Need help with a very sick ferret
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1887027.1110327180930.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
I guess my first question for the vet would be, what are we treating for wi=
th all these meds? Does she have some thoughts as to what's going on or is =
she just hoping these may work? Not to say that this is not the right thin=
g to do, because it may very well be, but I'm not a big fan of throwing a b=
unch of medication at something without a good reason. Maybe there is one =
and you just haven't shared that.
Also, you mentioned Noodle didn't eat today, which is not good and the meds=
probably aren't helping any. Are you trying to force feed him at all? Yo=
u should be doing so if he's not eating on his own. I feel like a broken r=
ecord, but get some Gerber's chicken baby food, warm it slightly, and see i=
f you can get him to eat. Force small amounts into his mouth if necessary =
and he'll learn that it tastes pretty good after all.
You said they did xrays, but foreign bodies don't necessarily show up on an=
xray. Is there any vomiting when he does eat?
mike
Author wrote:
> My daughter has a 10 month old male ferret, Noodle, who is very sick and =
needs someone to help her. It started this past Thursday night and has got=
ten progressively worse. He is very weak and cannot walk. He has no contr=
ol over his hind legs and drags himself around on his side when he has the =
energy to do so. He has been to the vet twice and his glucose level is fin=
e which ruled out the insolinoma, and other minor blood work was done which=
showed he was dehydrated and his blood count was a little off and she susp=
ected some sort of infection. X-rays were taken and they showed no foreign=
bodies but showed that his small intestine was near collapsing. He does u=
rinate and his last bowel movement was very loose. He has been taking Metr=
onidazole 250 mg 1xday, Amoxicillin 50 mg/ml 2xday, Sucralfate 3xday, Pepto=
-bismol 1 cc 3xday, 80 cc Pedialyte/water mixture since Sunday afternoon wi=
th no obvious good results. He is at the point where he only lays around, =
needs help getting to his litter box and has not eaten today at all. We ta=
lked to the vet and were told that more blood work or exploratory surgery c=
ould be done and she is not sure if anything will be found. We're at the p=
oint that we don't know what to do or where to turn. The bills are adding =
up and we were just wondering if anyone out there can help us to figure out=
if anything can be done to save him. Noodle is acting like he is going to=
die soon - please help us if you can. Thank you for your help.
> Nikki and Noodle
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