From:
natczer@yahoo.com.au
Date: 2005-10-25 16:38:08 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] IBD/EE questions and advice
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Hi All,
I have 2 1/2 year old neutered male ferret named Theo. A couple of months ago his stools became very odd, light in colour, grainy and very frequent. He also began eating more and losing heaps of weight. We took a trip to the vet who sent a stool sample to pathology. The vet diagnosed EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) due to the fat and protein in his faeces. I started adding powdered enzymes to his food. This really gave us no change...he didn't get any worse, nor did he get any better. He then started losing even more weight even though he was eating enormouse amounts of food. We went back to the vet, by this stage he had lost about half his body weight. The vet did an x-ray, blood and urine tests...all came back pretty normal, but low protein in his blood. I live in Australia and ferret knowledgeable vets here are few and far between! We haven't done a biopsy but we're suspecting IBD, or even specifically EE...we've switched his diet to the Hills z/d...the vet gave him a shot of prednisolone and we're thinking of starting him on daily doses of that. A few questions...He is just so, so thin...is there anything I can do to promote weight gain? Also, what is generally the starting dose of pred. ? Is it given in liquid or tablet form and how have people found administering it? Also, he lives with my little girl ferret Bam, how do people (vets specifically) feel about the z/d as a general diet? She will happily eat it, the protein content is great but I'm worried that it might be a little low in fat. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
:-) Natalie
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