From:
"April Armstrong Campbell"
Date: 2005-05-13 00:31:59 UTC
Subject: Insulinomic started eating own diarrhea-help!
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <005501c55753$2d4d2620$6501a8c0@bigbox>
Hi-I haven't posted in awhile. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Bandit is an almost-7-yr-old insulinomic on prednisone 0.4mg twice a day. =
He was drug-free for a year, and we started with lower doses of pred back i=
n December, when he lost half his body weight and started showing symptoms =
a week after his best friend died. =
Since then, he has lost two other friends and has taken it all really hard.=
He has hind end weakness, occasional diarrhea (partly, I think, b/c his l=
atest batch of chicken gravy was too liquidy), eats Bob Church's chieckn gr=
avy modified for insulinomics, and gets along great with my other two remai=
ning ferrets, who are younger and more active than he is.
We added two more ferrets to the group within the last month (they were qua=
rantined for three or four weeks first, ADV-tested, otherwise tested, etc. =
and not introduced until this past week, after they'd been here long enough=
not to be stressed themselves and be shedding any stress-induced viruses).=
Bandit has been getting along fine with them-in fact, they pretty well leav=
e him alone, as if they know he's frail, and did not end up bein any sicker=
or seem stressed, have more diarrhea than normal, etc.
Today he started having brown, greasy, somewhat seedy diarrhea than has bee=
n getting on him. My biggest concern with this is that he has been eating =
it-EWWWW!-and not just what gets stuck to him; I caught him licking it off =
thr floor.
Any ideas as to why (I thought perhaps the chicken gravy was going through =
him and that's what it tasted like to him) and how I can get it to stop? I=
don't want him getting sicker from eating feces.
Any direct responses will be easier for me to catch up with-I have been wor=
king 16 hour days at my animal hospital and doing the overnights...
Thanks!
-April Campbell