From:
"Patricia Kaczorowski"
Date: 2009-08-22 19:49:37 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Re: diarrhea
To: <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
I don't know for sure but I don't think ferrets get Irritable bowel, more common is inflammatory bowel disease which can be a precursor to lymphoma left untreated. Inflammatory bowel disease in humans is like Crohn's or ulcerative colitis.
I have learned over years, it just is not normal for them to have diarrhea, and if it goes on more than a week or two without identifed causes ( ie stool samples show no coccidia, giardia, etc) then I would consider much more aggressive investigation like biopsy, etc. I have had 3 - one was Eosinophilic enteritis, one was Inflammatory bowel with node that was not cancer but a precursor to it, and one was cancer. I had 2 that had rectal issues and both were cancer, one was cancer of the rectum, other was a blockage and biopsy showed carcinoma of the intestine.
I have also had coccidia and ECE and know how tough it is , but those usually pass along so more than one ferret gets the diarrhea at the same time being a clue. (if you have more than one)>
I may sound pessimistic, but with mine it seems they were all more serious than I thought when diarrhea didn't seem so bad, and ferret was not wasting or that ill. I guess my point, I tend to have the vet involved early on and consider more aggressive investigations after a few weeks of no answers.
Patty
ps. Forgot , one was on treatment for coccidia as my whole crew was treated, then got diarrhea, when everyone else was well. Only thing vet found was his blood sugar was over 500, and he was diabetic, once glucose under control his poops were back to normal, likely a very unusual cause of diarrhea - and prehaps the antibiotics caused it from the coccidia treatment, but again, does pay to have some tests done.
----- Original Message -----
From: gallaenz
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 11:48 PM
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: diarrhea
Hi Laurie
Possibility is irratable bowel, this causes the muscle of the bowel to contract restricting bowel motions to move along so that only the very fluidy feces get through, in humans a muscle relaxant is used to relax the bowel muscles Colofac is a human version.
Another is a partial blockage. or twisted intestine common in ferrets as they throw themselfs around alot.
Chhers Michelle NZ
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