From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2007-12-30 18:02:43 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Totally Ferret Hypoallergenic food & EGE
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
We had two with extremely severe IBD to the point where Imuran (a chemo drug) was the
only thing that ever gave near to complete control.
One was a rescue who had been found covered in ticks eating garbage (literally) -- and
ever since loved spicy food, veggies and legumes would try to steal them. He also had a
gangrenous tail which required amputation. His IBD was finally his cause of death.
In his case changes of diet made no difference at all. Meds did, and once (when we made
the mistake of seeing if heavy cream might aid him) he wound up on a series of over 20
medication doses of something like 7 or 8 meds for weeks to save him. He had chemo,
antibiotics, antacids, etc. during that time and almost passed a few times.
The other also had neural crest genetic variations (in case with body markings but not
head markings), required two corrective surgeries for syndactyly (fingers joined in sort of
soft tissue "mitten") and modest polydactyly (extra fingers) which also resulted in modified
claws that would erupt through the tissue of one paw (and no one ever could scoop soil
like he could after we got his hand comfy). More seriously, he had deformation of the
stomach and small intestine with both (but especially his stomach) becoming larger, more
flaccid, and thinner walled. Because his stomach could not move things through well he
could not pass even normal levels of ingested fur (even w help) and even food took over 8
hours to leave his stomach in his last two or three years; 4 times he required stomach
surgery.
In his case he was allergic to poultry in general and the food that worked for him was
Feline Z/D which is a special allergy food. Although derived from poultry the proteins are
broken down to just the amino acids, hence they tend to not be triggers.
I do know of one ferret with severe EE/EGE who could not handle even Feline Z/D. That
was RinkyDink. Unless my memory doesn't serve he could eat Canine Z/D and he could
eat ham so the vet worked with a veterinary nutritionist to provide what else was needed
in his diet for it to be balanced.
Look for past posts from scuffyou that are about RinkyDink in
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
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