From:
John Rosloot
Date: 2009-02-25 13:09:34 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Megaesophagus
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi again Sheryl.
I'd posted this info before, but thought I'd do it again to
make sure you get it, now that megaesophagus is confirmed.
My ferret Tommy was diagnosed with megaesophagus last year.
It took a long time to diagnose, till it got so he couldn't
even keep water down and almost died. Fortunately we finally
figured out what was going on. My vet started him on a diet
of Medi-cal canned recovery formula, which luckily Tommy took
to right away (he was a fussy eater). My vet also prescribed
metoclopramide to improve motility. He was fed in an upright
position and kept upright and his throat massaged each time
till the gurgling noises stopped.
His improvement was amazing. After we started this program
Tommy didn't have a single incident of regurgitation or even
gagging. His energy went back to normal, he gained back the
weight he'd lost. He also had insulinoma but on his new diet
we were able to drop his meds to almost nothing.
Unfortunately Tommy also developed congestive heart failure
soon after this and died of that a few months later. But the
post-mortem showed he had been well-fed and his esophagus had
improved. I understand not all ferrets would do as well and
it depends on the root cause of the MegaE.
It did take a lot of work those last few months to keep
Tommy well. I was hand-feeding him 5x/day, 30ml (1/8 cup)
of food per meal. When his poops got too runny I started
mixing in some ground softened Medi-cal fibre formula.
His meds were mixed with his food. I would feed him once
when I got up, twice during the day (I would come home on
my coffee breaks for that), and twice in the evenings.
As I said, Tommy improved tremendously. He was even sneaking
the occasional kibble after this without trouble. It was a
lot of work and not everyone's schedule would permit that,
but even a morning/evening/overnight feeding schedule might
be good. I'd gladly still be doing this if I could have my
boy back again.
So, soft food and metoclopramide worked great for us. Tommy
weighed about 3 pounds by the way; you may want to adjust
the diet based on your ferret's size/appetite.
I have a question for the experts. Could Tommy's expanded
esophagus pressing on his heart have caused or contributed
to his heart trouble? If so, then if we had diagnosed his
MegaE sooner, might Tommy still be alive? He would have
been 7 years old last month.
--
John Rosloot
Caregiver to Kody,
With loving memories of:
Buddy, Cassie, Sammy, Buster, Pandora and Tommy
http://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~rosloot/ferrets
rosloot@uregina.ca
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