From:
ferretgm
Date: 2008-03-28 05:38:18 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Ripper - stomach problems continue
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Ripper had surgery in November to debulk the glands on either side of where the large intestine joins the stomach. His stomach was very large because the food couldn't go down, and he had a lot of discomfort. My recollection is that he had some gas/air in the upper part of the stomach as well. I took him in because he would burp/hiccup after eating and periodically at other times, and it concerned me. The problem was due to a liver inflammation associated with adrenal disorder; we ran the adrenal panel and he had clinically significant elevated hormones, although he has no obvious symptoms. Ripper is about 2 1/2. He also had more fat in the abdomen than normal, again associated with the adrenal/liver condition.
I'd been cutting Ripper's baby food down gradually, although he still had a small amount twice a day. Last week, I was on vacation thought it would be ok to go down once a day (yes, had consulted with vet who thought we could even go cold-turkey). This is how I've weaned him off it before.
While I was gone, Ripper bit the sitter twice, once rather badly. This sitter has cared for the ferrets many times, and has never had any problems. And Ripper has ***never*** bitten anyone like this, never ever. He is an extraordinarily sweet-natured ferret who loves everyone and generally has a very happy outlook on life. He also seemed somewhat agitated when I came home, so I wondered if the biting were due to just missing me.
He also had noticeably lost weight. Now, this in an of itself is not a bad thing, because the vet said he needed to lose weight. But I noticed by the second day I was home that he *still* didn't seem to be eating any kibble. And he also had a couple of hiccups and one pretty distinct burp.
Concerned, I took him to the vet. I mean, I know that sometimes you have to be more stubborn than the ferret when switching food, but I wanted to make sure that we weren't hurting him. She ran bloodwork and took x-rays. The bloodwork looks like he has not been eating much. The stomach is back to normal size, but it has a dark area on the top that appears on the x-rays that looks like either gas or perhaps some type of hairball. There is no gas in the bowel. He has significant abdominal tenderness, and seemed depressed/not his usual self to the vet.
We're going back to feeding him carnivore care (mixed with enough baby food to make it palatable for him), 6 to 12 ml, 4x/day. Then we may back down to 3x/day. Honestly, I am relieved that I can feed him more often.
The vet thinks that if it's a hairball/other foreign body, it'll become obvious in a few days. He definitely did not have a foreign body in December. He might have engaged in excessive self-grooming because I was gone, but in my experience, a ferret that does that will start with the underside of the tail, and Ripper doesn't seem to have done that.
If this is gas in the stomach, do any of you have any idea what might be causing it? I've never heard of something like this happening, and I have no idea what to even attempt to do about it. Should I ask the vet about antacids? Perhaps we should treat the adrenal disorder more aggressively?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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