From:
"rsi_ryans"
Date: 2007-01-07 22:31:59 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Further vomiting - any suggestions for follow up?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi Everyone
Again, apologies for the length of this email...
This is following up to my previous message about my little lady,
Willow, who I posted about last Sunday. I'd really appreciate if some
of the vets or experienced people on the list might be able to suggest
what they'd do in this situation since my own vet is around the limit
of his experience.
Since Sunday we've had more vomiting, despite her staying on exactly
the same treatment and diet that she had been on in the previous weeks
when she was doing better. First, she vomited on Wednesday evening,
though as always was back to eating normally within a few hours.
Then yesterday evening, after I gave her her zantac via syringe, she
immediately vomited. After that she went off and ate some kibble
immediately as normal, so I thought this was just due to the amount
she dislikes the zantac, since it's always a struggle to get it into
her. I didn't try to syringe the zantac into her again that night,
though I did get most of the dose in by hiding small bits of the
tablet in ferretvite.
Anyway, overnight she fed herself well, but also had another small
vomiting episode - around 2am she came out to eat, went back to bed,
and dashed out a few minutes later to bring up 4-6 kibbles worth of
food - which was not all she had eaten, I think. But then she settled
and was fine for the rest of the night - I know this since I had a
webcam (low light model) pointed at her in the cage, taking a movie...
So she comes out this morning and eats well enough again, though she
was perhaps not as active as usual. I gave her some zantac again in
bits, which she took pretty well. And she has been eating well through
the day - out every 3-4 hours for maybe 10-12 kibbles at a time. Then
she comes out about 30 mins ago, poops as usual and then indicates I
may feed her - at which point she starts to eat with abandon and eats
maybe 20 kibbles or so (a lot more than usual). And then - of course -
runs off and starts to gag. However, she only brought up one chewed
kibble before settling down, and after a quick trot about the house,
is now sleeping soundly.
So, I'm very worried, and confused. Previously when she was vomiting
regularly she was not eating very well - just morning and evening, and
was losing weight. So far she's eating well and maintaining her weight
OK. She's reasonably active, though some mornings not quite on her
usual form, but not that far off it. Her poops are in general fine -
the usual brown, pretty good consistency, though maybe once a day
she's doing something looser. Her first poop after a large vomiting
session tends to either be birdseed or undigested kibble, but after
that things are fine.
So on some levels there is progress - she's eating well and keeping
her weight on, unlike before. However the frequency of vomiting is now
worse than it was before we started treatment, and this vomiting a
little after eating is new.
I'm at a loss to know what to think - she does not seem to have any
objection to eating and shows no sign of tooth grinding. Her poops are
in general OK - no sign of the classic black tarry stools of an ulcer
(there never were, despite the vet seeing slight traces of blood in
her stomach). I suppose IBD may be possible despite the generally good
poops. The incidents just after eating are new, but I guess any
problems in the throat would have shown up in the gastroscopy she had.
The only things I can think to do now are to try to test for IBD, and
also run a general blood panel to see if anything shows up there. We
lost her twin sister to a liver tumour at the end of Jan 06 - she just
fell over and was dead in 10 mins due to a blood vessel bursting on it
- so cancers are always in the back of my mind.
Anyway, that's the long sad tale. I'm at my wits end with this little
lady. Ironically at the moment I'm less worried about her older
companion Buffy (about 10, adrenal, cardiomyopathy, plus other
problems but a steely determination to go on) than Will...
Thanks to all who replied before, and in advance for any further
suggestions. I'll be in touch with my own vet tomorrow, but as I said,
this is getting beyond his experience so I'm not sure how much more he
can do.
Thanks
Robert
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