From:
micheler@austin.rr.com
Date: 2006-07-11 00:42:38 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] ferret with diarrhea - going on 4 weeks now
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Hi all,
I'm hoping someone can help me. I have a 4 year old female ferret that has had diarrhea for 4 weeks now. The first week was on and off, but the last 3 weeks have been non-stop. About 90% of the time there is some (just some) solidity to her poop and the other 10% of the time it's almost completely liquid.
At first her vet suggested just putting her on Pepto, .5 cc twice a day. It may no difference after a week.
Then we put her on Metronidazole (Flagyl), .25 cc twice a day - and she HATED it, even with flavoring. She had 3 days of that with no immediate results - which according to her vet I should have seen improvement quickly. Two weeks ago she had a sonogram and blood work done. The sonogram showed no blockage and all organs looked good. There were no signs of tumors or cancer of any sort. There was a slight irritation on the canal to or from the liver, but according to the vet that could be a result of the diarrhea. The blood work showed she had slightly elevated liver enzymes (again, could be a result of the diarrhea) and that her cell counts indicated a viral infection of some sort. The recommendation was to take her off the Flagyl and put her on Clavamox. She has been on the Clavamox, .15 cc twice a day, for 2 weeks now and still no change.
She is up-to-date on her shots.
She stays indoors and has no interaction with any other animals except her roommate - another female ferret, who shows no signs of contracting this illness.
There have been no changes to her environment. Her food (a combination of Eagle Pack, Totally Ferret and Marshall's) has not changed. No new toys have been introduced.
Her appetite is way off. I have been having to feed her baby food (chicken with chicken gravy) as she hates the duck soup. I also have to syringe water into her as she's not drinking enough either. When she is awake she is alert and active although definitely NOT her usual playful rambunctious self. She will eat some dry food, but again, not enough to keep her going.
The one thing that sticks in my head on how or why she has become so sick is 6 weeks ago she received her 3rd Melatonin implant....let me provide a little history here. The first implant happened 1 year ago and worked like a charm - no side effects whatsoever. The second implant happened just over 6 months ago and although it worked as well, there was one side effect - she was very anxious for about 2 weeks afterwards. She wanted non-stop attention and wasn't sleeping like she should. Then, after 2 weeks, she went back to normal. Then, 6 weeks ago she went in for her 3rd implant. All went well, except 2 weeks after receiving the implant, the diarrhea started and it hasn't stopped. This may be coincidental, but it's the only thing I can think of that has some link to her becoming sick. It's possible the implant reduced her immunity and the viral infection was able to come out with guns blazing - I just don't know for sure.
The research I've done online suggests that the implants have caused a side effect of lethargy due to too much Melatonin being secreted into the ferret's body, but I haven't found anything about causing diarrhea, although it seems to me that if it can throw off a ferret's system enough to make it lethargic, it could upset it enough to cause diarrhea....and my little girl has always had a sensitive stomach - ie if she gets too work up, she would usually get one instance of diarrhea.
If anyone has any suggestions on this, I would appreciate it. I'm going to post this wherever possible in order to get as much feedback as possible because I just don't get why this is happening, for as long as it's happening.
Thanks,
Michele
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