From:
Regina Badriya Harrison
Date: 2006-04-10 17:24:14 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] hairballs and enlarged spleens?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
hi all,
Does anyone know if a hairball/foreign body hanging around in
the stomach can lead to an enlarged spleen? (I did some
googling/searching, but these terms are just too common to get
good results.) My ferret Ronan (approx. 3 years old) has had
intermittant diarrhea and frequently poor stool (grainy, pale
in color but generally not green) off and on for a few months,
and his spleen is fairly enlarged. He does have normal stool
on a regular basis as well. Right now he's finishing up a
course of ulcer meds to see if helicobacter is the problem (he
had not had dark, tarry stools but it seemed like a reasonable
diagnosis to me). The diarrhea has stopped, but the grainy,
off-color stools continue. Of course, I know that being on
antibiotics may be affecting his stool right now as well, so
it may take a couple of days after finishing the treatment to
see if there's a new normal.
We control it when we catch him at it, but we do know that
he's a fleece and fake fur chewer. An application of bitter
apple to whatever he's chewing on will generally put him off
that item for a good long time, and he sleeps in regular
blankets. But since he came to us as a rescue at 2 years of
age, we don't know what his previous home circumstances were
like, if perhaps he had fleece bedding that he ate. I do give
hairball remedy regularly, but if he has a long-established
hairball it might be too big to pass. So I wonder now if it's
possible that a hairball is floating around in his stomach,
causing gastrointestinal disturbances, but I'm not sure if the
enlarged spleen fits that theory or not. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Regina
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