From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-05-02 20:40:29 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Stools too loose since last chicken gravy batch
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <4185642.1115066429825.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Some ferrets with IBD get stool firming if canned unsweetened pumpkin puree=
is given with food.
When IBD is present there is no one cure-all, and ferrets who respond to so=
me treatments may have those approaches fail after a while. This is likely=
partly because IBD is a diagnosis of exclusion: if another cause is not f=
ound IBD is the term used, so the level of the problem and the factors feed=
ing into it can vary. Some respond to some fiber in the diet. Some respon=
d to having certain proteins (animal or vegetable) removed from their diets=
. Chicken and corn are common ones but that does not mean that they are th=
e right ones for all of the ferrets who do have a dietary component. Some =
of these ferrets respond well to antibiotics, some to steroids, some a chem=
o approach such as Imuran. Many need medication combos. The stools are lo=
ose, and often very strong smelling and foul, and the problem is not interm=
ittent except at a low level so it's not like someone whose ferret has runs=
every few months needs to worry at all about this. The abdomen can be blo=
ated from inflammation. There can be ocassional crashes which go from bad =
to far worse in the ones with very bad IBD. It is possible to lose a ferre=
t to such a crash and they can be caused easily, for instance, Sherman's ne=
xt to last one was caused by an attmept to get a few more calories in with =
heavy cream. (His crash did not kill him; instead he developed an allergy t=
o a medication he'd been getting and that killed him.) At one point to get=
Sherman through a crash he needed as many as 20 doses of carefully timed a=
ssorted meds each day. Once past that he was able to go to just minimal me=
ds again. His was a severe case, obviously. Long term IBD may possibly (h=
ypothetical) be a contributing factor toward developing lympho but it can b=
e terminal in and of itself when it is bad enough. It is thought that a nu=
mber of IBD cases may heppen due to intestinal damage from ECE. Hopes are =
that the work of Dr. Matti Kiupel may eventually lead to a a vaccine to pre=
vent ECE, thus also hopefully protecting ferrets from IBD and maybe from so=
me cases of lymphoma. (It's not an easy problem and grant money for ferret=
-only studies is underfunded and therefore hard to get which also puts dela=
ys into studies.)
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