From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2006-11-05 16:20:18 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Blood in stool
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
When the blood in stool causes stool to be black or very dark green it is digested blood
from higher up in the digestive tract, but when it is red (frank blood) then you need to
think lower.
Your ferret could have a bacterial infection or a parasitic infection, or may have passed a
foreign body that scratched the colon, or any number of other things that can cause the
passing of blood.
Given the amount you describe your ferret needs to see the vet and I think that coccidia
needs to be considered among the possible causes. Coccidia can be very hard to spot in
stool and can take multiple specimens to find.
This year there has been a recurrent coccidia encountered by some so just give your vet a
heads-up on that to be safest but know that it is not very often seen, but too few people
with sick ferrets supplied fresh stool specimens (very important) and no one I know of
supplied tissue from any of the ferrets who didn't make it so the ferret pathology study on
this variant was forced to fail and be abandoned. What people seem to be doing with that
variant most successfully IF it is coccidia that your ferret has and IF it is this variant that
your ferret has is treating for a longer time, but there does not seem to be any consistency
among those who have combated it and way too few follow-up reports from them to help
others much.
So, time for a prompt vet appointment! Take a fresh specimen and if you have those
bloody ones take them, too, so the vet can see what they look like if your vet says to do
so. When you make the appointment leave that question and them to let you know before
you need to leave home to get there. If they don't call back in time take those stools
along, too, to be safest.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/