From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-02-08 17:38:15 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Vet's can find nothing wrong with my stinky ferret Daughter..... Please help
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
This reply also calls on some things learned off-list:
The rapid breathing can also be a pain response.
Were you or she around any other ferrets recently?
ECE is among the possibilities.
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/ECE/ECE.html
If you had said she wasn't passing any stools then a
full blockage would be a tight fit as a possibility.
With diarrhea a partial blockage is still possible.
Straining to defecate can also indicate a blaockage.
Blockages often do not show up on x-rays.
Is the stool black or dark green? if so then an ulcer is
possible.
Has she been digging soil? It's rare but some get fungal
infections of the lungs that way.
Influenza is certainly a possibility; some get very hard hit
by that.
The opacity of the lung is an indicator to look closely at
the chest.
The thickened wall type of cardiomyopathy is hypertrophic
and an ultrasound will spot that.
Check her urinary tract, too, if that was not already imaged.
The first sign of a urolith can be straining to defecate. There
are multiple types of uroliths ferrets get and the approaches
needed vary with type. Some need more protein, some need
less protein, some need less oxalic acid in food.
the tar-like stool is a pointer to a possible ulcer, a common
secondary complication for many health problems in ferrets
because then they are compromised Helicobacter can take off.
It is good that her hydration is being taken into account and
treated; lack of hydration alone can cause some of the symptoms
at times so is sometimes a result but sometimes also a cause.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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