From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2011-08-22 17:42:19 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Blood coming from penis
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
First step: vet appointment on an emergency basis
Frank blood from the anus can happen with coccidia and the vet will want to check that, too.
If it actually was from his penis then the vet needs to check for several possible things including infections and uroliths and will use x-ray of the bladder, maybe ultrasound of the kidneys and bladder, urine testing for blood and protein levels, maybe urine testing for specific gravity. Ferrets get uroliths (urinary stones) of multiple types and if those are present you need to know the type. There are labs which check slush and stones, and urine pH can also help figure it out. A pH that is too alkaline indicates that the diet is too high in vegetable protein while one that is too acidic points to needing to reduce protein overall in the diet since any of 4 amino acids (Cystine, Ornithine, Lysine, or Arginine) is not being processed correctly by the kidneys. There are other types of uroliths, too. The type in which protein needs to be reduced usually shows symptoms in the first year of life; I have never so far heard of it showing up later EXCEPT when a ferret who has been on a diet of 35% or less in protein is switched to a higher protein diet and that would be because the lower protein diets are safe for those individuals due to the lower levels of those 4 amino acids (in fact it is the main approach used for ones who get that type of stone).
The most common stones are the ones from too much vegetable protein in the diet: struvite uroliths. I tend to talk more about cystine uroliths because those are the ones we have encountered and because too many vets still don't think to check for them but the approach for them is the opposite of the one for struvite uroliths so knowing the difference can be life saving.
There are links of info on uroliths as well as past posts on a range of types in the separate FHL Archives which can be linked to from the home page of the FHL and is the second addy in my sig lines. Just search for posts containing
stone or urolith or sludge
leaving the subject and from boxes empty and then decide which you want to read.
Sorry about this being a bit disjointed; I am sorely lacking in time.
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/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
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