From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-11-15 18:16:00 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: No idea what's going on here...
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
It would help if people could know the glucose
readings on this ferret, and for the meds tell
which meds:
Prednisone?
Prednisolone?
Diazoxide?
Something else?
It helps to know the size of the ferret and
the dose. Liquid meds can have different
concentrations (think of how the amount of
chicken in a soup varies between a broth and
a cream of chicken soup that includes pureed
chicken. Obviously, the second one has more
chicken. Same with meds. To know how much
med is in there the people need either the
1. mg amount from the container or from
asking the vet (when the med is solid)
If liquid:
1. the amount and how often if it given (which
is usually in ml or in cc -- with ml and cc being
the same for amount) Ex would be "0.25 ml
twice a day about 12 hours apart"
but this is not complete. Remember the chicken broth
vs. the thicker chicken soup with more meat in it. So:
2. the concentration. This allows people to do the
calculations to figure out the mg amount. The
concentration will look like this: mg/ml or
sometimes the reverse, so copy it from the container
or from what the vet says *exactly* and include that
so taking the above example further for people to be able
to calculate the med amount and see how appropriate
it might be: "0.25 ml twice a day about 12
hours apart of a 2 mg/ml Prednisolone to a ferret
who weighs 3 pounds" along with the history. Then
the needed info is there.
Insulinoma itself can cause butterscotch pudding
appearance stools, but you are describing sounds
like MIGHT partly be from insulinoma but sounds a
LOT more like an infection is going on (smell,
differences in texture, grains indicating poor
function of the small intestine or too much fat in
diet for ferret to digest completely (but too much
fat would not explain the odor), etc).
A raw diet is often not a good idea for a
compromised ferret. Can you get the ferret to eat
a balanced cooked diet, accept meat baby foods,
or eat a high quality recovery food like a/d or
Carnivore Care (which vets sell), or a high quality
kibble like Totally Ferret?
The reason a compromised ferret should not have
raw foods is because they simply can't fight off
food-borne infections that healthy ferrets can fight
off, so they too easily get food-borne diseases on
top of their original health problems.
For some compromised ferrets a change is only
needed temporarily, but if the cause of being
compromised is a long term one then a permanent
change can help avoid infection. Some food-borne
infections are very hard to treat, and some, like
avian mycobacteria (a TB relative) are permanent.
Avian mycobacteria is primarily a GI disease but
can affect other organs. Avian mycobacteria can
be picked up from bird excrement by compromised
individuals but is much more easily caught from
infected raw poultry by compromised individuals
and is very common among poultry.
Those who were at the IFC Symposium heard
such beloved FHL member vets as Dr. Karen
Purcell and Dr. Ruth Heller, and later also wonderful
Dr. Bob Wagner emphasize that the only way they do
or would feed raw food is through KNOWING the
places the raw food comes from. At least one
(apologies for not recalling exactly who) actually
visits and inspects those farms or breeders herself
and will not feed raw food from other places or from
grocery stores. And those precautions are for healthy
ferrets. That said, ferrets do not usually get food-
borne infections, but when they do, some of those
infections can be hard to treat.
Now, what you describe could alternatively be ECE or
a parasite. Has the ferret been around a new ferret,
especially a pet store kit, or have you been cuddling
pet store kits and then come home to your ferret, or
perhaps even tracked in the waste of such ferrets?
Has the ferret had drinks from outside water, or from
an aquarium? Anything else you can think of?
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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