From:
Regina Badriya Harrison
Date: 2007-04-09 14:47:33 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Re: sudden weight gain/risks of exploratories
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I have been in the situation you describe with a ferret with chronic diarrhea and weight fluctuations. Antibiotics only provided temporary relief from the diarrhea. Ronan, the ferret, also seemed generally lethargic, but there didn't seem to be anything immediately life-threatening going on. My vets and I suspected the ferret had Irritable Bowel Disorder, but the only way to get a conclusive diagnosis of that condition is through biopsy of the intestinal walls, which requires surgery. I was not thrilled about putting him through surgery, but recognized that his quality of life was suffering and that we needed to either diagnose IBD so that we could treat accordingly or rule it out so that we could think about other possibilities. And if we did have to start considering other possibilities, the vets would already have seen the condition of his internal organs and know what other diagnoses were more or less likely. The biopsy result did in fact show a severe case of IBD; w!
e began medicating and Ronan's quality of life has improved dramatically--he plays much more, he's become more affectionate, and all around much more interested in life.
So I can report a positive experience with exploratory surgery on the basis of ambiguous, non-specific symptoms. I have to admit I was fairly resistant to the idea of doing the surgery, but it was absolutely the right thing to do in this situation. If we had found something pretty bad inside, it would have been best to know about it sooner rather than later, even if it had meant not waking him up. That's hard for us, but it's what's fair for a ferret who might be suffering more than we know.
Regina
>From: Debbie Hunton <reynapaubi@yahoo.com>
> What I'm really asking about are those times when a
> ferret has some medical issue (diarreha, weight
> gain, whatever) that no cause could be diagnosed
> through non-surgical, although those diagnostic
> approaches have been tried (blood work, x-ray,
> ultrasound). If the ferret is acting normally
> (eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, playing) except
> for the one issue that has triggered the vet visits
> and tests, do you do exploratory surgery? And if you
> have, did the vet get in there and find such serious
> problems that they didn't wake the ferret from the
> surgery?
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