From:
"Sue Liszewski"
Date: 2005-07-11 01:40:53 UTC
Subject: RE: [ferrethealth] sick ferret with a large combination of symptoms -- please
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
help diagnose!
Message-ID: <BAY104-F32ED211D54F0239A56BA9CDCDC0@phx.gbl>
Gastric Ulcers to start. I would do labs especially CBC and Blood Glucose
and based on history I would consider an abdominal exploratory or ultrasound
for obstruction. Have a transfusion pre or intra operatively. There is
more going on her and you need to find it before he gets worse and your
chance for getting him thru it is reduced significantly. Good Luck.
Dr. Sue
>From: "Kelly Fisher" <kcfisher@bigfoot.com>
>Reply-To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
>To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
>Subject: [ferrethealth] sick ferret with a large combination of symptoms --
>please help diagnose!
>Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 19:06:55 -0500
>
>One of my ferrets has very recently fallen VERY ill. Friday evening I
>noticed extreme lethargy, and a marked loss in weight. He has been losing
>weight for quite a while, which I attributed to his normal (and dramatic)
>seasonal weight drop, but this years has been more dramatic than any before
>it. It appears that over the past 2-3 days, he's lost a great deal more
>weight than when I last played with him on Wednesday evening, in which
>incidentally he was completely alert and playful. FYI - My ferrets have a
>large dedicated portion of my basement in which to run 24/7 - an area which
>they also share the with cat. Initially most of his symptoms were similar
>to insulinoma (stupor, weak hind legs, smacking at the mouth) which I've
>dealt with on two other ferrets, so I closely monitored his behavior after
>giving him some sugary liquid, and even gave him a dose of the Proglycem
>that I'm currently administering to another ferret. However, his lethargy
>did not improve. I've noticed that he also was having diarrhea, something
>that he's exhibited before, but only occasionally, and never for more than
>a
>day. Now the diarrhea is constant, which, from what I've read is not a
>symptom of insulinoma.
>
>
>
>Saturday morning I took him to my local vet, who also agreed that
>insulinoma
>was an unlikely culprit, so he gave me a mixture of Baytril and Prednizone
>to try to see if this is being caused by some sort of intestinal bacterial
>infection, or even IBD.. but after 2 days of dosing he is not improving at
>all, plus he is now beginning to discharge a very thick black tarry stool,
>which appears to indicate some sort of ulcer or bleed in the upper GI area.
>He's not eating or drinking on his own.. I'm giving him 1cc of duck soup
>(A/D with heavy cream and water) every hour supplemented by ferretvite,
>hand
>feeding water, and I've just now begun to add some pepto to the mix. His
>condition doesn't appear to be worsening, but it's certainly not improving.
>
>
>
>Here is a list of his symptoms:
>
> Lethargy
>
> Smacking at the mouth
>
> Occasional but very short lived stupor - he's usually quite
>alert
>
> Weak hind legs
>
> Diarrhea now progressing to black, tarry stool
>
> Loss of appetite
>
> Weight loss
>
> Nausea
>
> Drooling
>
> Sporadic incontinence
>
>
>
>Does anyone have any clue what might be causing this? I'm going to be
>bringing him to see the vet first thing tomorrow morning, but I'd like to
>have a better idea of what might be causing this problem so that I can lead
>my vet in the right direction. Right now we're just taking stabs in the
>dark.
>
>
>
>
>
>Thank you very much,
>
>
>
>Kelly Fisher
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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