From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2011-08-26 16:58:59 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] 9 mth old female sick again
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Did you add a new ferret about 2 weeks before this began or did she had exposure to a possibly sick ferret (or did you since ECE can be carried on clothing) ? ECE does not usually reduce its effects this rapidly but in a kit it can in them (though not in adults). ECE is a specific disease, a coronavirus.
Of course, it may not be ECE, and then other causes of those symptoms have to be considered.
Bright green means that it is passing through very rapidly and tends to point to the small intestine as a possible site of inflammation and perhaps illness and even damage, but mucous stools tend to point to the colon, so it is possible that she had something that was in the small intestine and that it either passed down lower, or that there is a secondary intestinal illness.
You are avoiding irritating foods during this such as raw food, bone, milk products, etc. right? A diet of a/d or of meat baby food will be the safest.
Were multiple stools checked? With ferrets it is absolutely essential to check for two forms of coccidia ***but many places forget to check for the smaller genus***. Both Eimeria and Isospora absolutely must be sought. Not all ferrets with coccidia pass blood.
Check, too, to see if the ferret is not doing a garbage belly behavior and eating things that should not be eaten such as bedding.
Normal ferret temperature is usually 101'F to 102'F but very, very active ones can reach 103'F right after activity. If there is a fever then the possibility of a very common ferret problem, especially for kits: intestinal damage from eating something that should not have been eaten has to be also on the consideration list and vet care is absolutely needed.
Ferrets rarely have worm problems.
Is your vet used to treating ferrets? If not, then give your general location in case someone here can suggest a vet, and check references such as:
http://ferrethealth.org/vets/
which can be linked to from the FHL Files section
http://supportourshelters.org/
and
http://www.ferretuniverse.com/vets/vetlist.asp
to find a vet who knows ferrets.
Intestinal problem causes can be difficult to pinpoint. Sometimes a vet gets lucky but sometimes not. Yes, ferret health care is expensive and usually more so at an older age; that is just one of the realities of having ferrets in the family.
Lymphoma in kits tends to be JL, and to test for that get a chest x-ray done by someone who knows ferrets because the thymus enlarges with that so it is usually a great way to see if that is the problem though frankly this does not sound like typical JL to me.
Nodes go up with infection, too, you know.
If this is something treatable and she isn't getting care then the worst could happen from lack of care if she gets bad enough.
On Aug 26, 2011, at 12:10 PM, kgdinning wrote:
> Hello,
>
> This is my first time posting on this list. I have a 9 month old female ferret, Gladiola, who was treated at the emergency hospital Aug. 4th for bright green loose stools, lack of appetite, and lethargy. They treated her with sub Q fluids, amoxicillin 14 days, carafate, and famotide. They ruled out obstruction via x-ray and ultrasound and found a very enlarged lymph node (not sure the location). They wanted to biopsy the node and I declined. My understanding is that young ferrets do not respond to lymphopma treatment.
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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