From:
amandadegraw@hotmail.com
Date: 2005-05-17 01:31:19 UTC
Subject: RE: ferret wasting-doctors unable to diagnose
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <11549664.1116298542116.JavaMail.nobody@chromium.smartgroups.com>
Have you treated him for ulcers? ie; he should be on carafate and amoxi and kaolin-
pectin for about a month to really treat an ulcer properly. Carafate will coat the
stomach and ease the distress and pain of digestion. Amoxi will take care of a
possible helocibacter infection (which is sounds liek he had before) and the
kaolin=pectin will help with diarrhea. I know when my baby was at his worst, I
couldn't get him to eat anything on his own, and I had to force feed him. After one
day of force feeding him every 6 hours and giving him carafate 20min prior to
eating, he got better pretty quickly after that. You just have to hit them hard with
meds right away to treat the ulcer. They are BAD NEWS!
As for why he has an ulcer....if he does...have you though about the possiblity of a
food allergy? You said you switch ed foods before...maybe that plays a part. You
want the most animal protein based dietpossible, in case of a grain allergy. I don't
know what the values are in MArshall's ferret food. I feed my ferts Annova cat and
kitten food, which has the top two ingredients as Turkey, Turkey meal, and chicken
as its top three ingredients. It has 36% crude portein and 20% crude fat. My ferrets
love it.
I would follow up on the CBC suggestion and x-rays and or ultrasound of his heart. I
checked on both of those with my fert. They will tell you if he has fluid in his
abdomen, which is bad news, and may point to other potential sources for
problems.
Given what you described, I would really treat him for an ulcer ASAP. It may be the
only problem, or secondary to another problem. Either way it shouldn't hurt, and
will really help his tummy feel better.
Of course, I am not a vet. I am just syaing what I did with my ferret, who had similar
symptoms.
Don't give up hope. I've been there...You and your baby are in my prayers. God
bless.