From:
"rsi_ryans"
Date: 2006-12-31 16:48:22 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Vomiting ferret - persistent ulcer?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hello Everyone
I apologise in advance for my first post being a long one, but I have
a persistent problem with one of my ferrets so I want to give the full
story in the hopes that someone might have some suggestions.
I have a five and a half year old albino ferret - Willow - who seems
to have a stomach problem, which my vet and I think is an ulcer.
The problems started several months ago, when the little lady was
apparently upset by the sound of some workmen digging up the path in
front of the house, which distressed her and was followed by several
vomiting episodes that evening. However she came around OK the next
day and I thought that was the end of things - it was not the first
time she had suffered from some 'stress' vomiting. However, over the
next few weeks she was eating a bit less often and vomiting about once
a week - each time just chewed kibbles, no sign of foreign bodies,
etc. She didn't show any of the other signs of ulcers such as grinding
teeth or bloody stool though.
My vet did an X Ray which showed nothing, and also a gastroscopy,
which showed some slight traces of blood in the stomach, and this led
him to suspect an ulcer. There was no sign of any sort of blockage or
foreign body. Initially he prescribed Zantac and amoxicillin for two
weeks, but after this she was still vomiting about once a week, though
did put on some of the weight she had lost.
After this false start I printed out lots of the posts from the FHL
archives, and from other sources, and gave them to my vet. We then
switched to a once a day dose of Clarithromycin (Biaxin) at 50 mg/kg
and amoxicillin at 35 mg/kg. I tried this on its own for a week,
during which the lack of zantac was a clear problem as the poor little
thing vomited three times. We then started her on zantac again (on
December 5th) at 24mg/kg 3 times a day, and this was the point at
which things started to turn around.
After starting on the zantac again Willow went a week without
vomiting, which was progress compared to the week before. After the
small setback on December 12th she was doing very well. She had been
eating well, she put on all the weight she lost while ill and was back
to just over 900g (compared to a low point of 820g). We were thinking
of easing off on the treatment since things seemed to be going well.
Then, this afternoon, after a perfectly normal night and morning, she
comes running out of her sleeping quarters and brings up what must
have been the entire contents of her stomach. This was something of a
blow for both of us... She then - as usual - had a brief trot about
the house and then settled back down to sleep, and if this is like
every other time to date she'll be out in a few hours to drink and eat
again as usual.
So, I come to my question. Does anyone have experience of a drawn out
'ulcer' type problem like this? Are there any other approaches which
might be tried? I have read that zantac is not suitable for long term
use in ferrets, but given what happened last time she was off it I'm
worried that stopping it now might makes things worse.
Thanks for any advice,
Robert
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