I feel a little guilty asking for advice from the list, since I rarely have
time to read it or post to it anymore, but I'm desperate!  The people on
this list have been such a valuable source of useful information in the
past, I can't think of any place to turn for advice.  In fact, the ferret
for whom I need help was adopted by me through this list.  He's a sweet,
enthusiastic boy with a wonderful personality.  So here goes, guilt and
all!
 
URINARY TRACT BLOCKAGE is the problem.  Poor little Beuhler was rushed to
the vet on January 8th because he was crying in pain and couldn't urinate.
Beuhler is approximately 4 years old and has always been extremely active
and healthy until this point.  The vet relieved him by emptying his bladder
with a needle.  This was a Saturday, so Beuhler stayed in the hospital over
the weekend - where they continued to relieve him with a needle - then he
had surgery on Monday, Jan 10th.  The surgery revealed *over 50* stones,
large and small, in his bladder!  (I later saw the x-ray, and his little
bladder looked like a bag of marbles!) The vet removed the stones,
catheterized his urethra, and stitched him up.
 
He came through the surgery just fine, and the catheter was removed on
Tuesday.  He was able to excrete some urine on his own, and he gradually
resumed his normal eating and drinking habits.  He came home on the
following Tuesday, January 18th.  I was instructed to feed him only his
regular food (Totally Ferret), no treats, and administer Baytril tablets
twice daily (I forget the dosage) for three weeks.
 
The stones were sent away to a lab at the University of Minnesota for
analysis.  To date, the results have not yet come back.
 
He was urinating 6 - 8 drops at a time, which gradually improved to about
12 - 16 drops at a time, but then leveled off there.  Each time he woke
up, he had to make several trips to the litter box to get the job done.
Beuhler went back to his vet for a check-up on Jan 31st, and was given an
additional week's dosage of Baytril because his urination was not yet back
to normal.  The vet wondered if his kidney function might be impaired, so
we made another appointment for Feb 25th, when the vet drew blood for
follow-up blood test.  The results came back last Monday (Feb 25th) with
flying colors - his kidneys and liver appear to be functioning perfectly.
 
But this past week, Beuhler seemed to have more difficulty urinating.  This
morning, he was clearly straining, and could only get out a few drops,
which were cloudy.  By mid-day, he was clearly uncomfortable, so I called
my vet's office.  My vet, unfortunately for Beuhler, is in Alaska as an
attending vet for the Ititerod, and won't be back until mid-March.  So
this afternoon (Saturday) we went to the emergency clinic, upon the
recommendation of my regular vet's office, where there was a vet with
ferret experience.  The vet couldn't catherterize Beuhler's urethra from
the outside, and tried to flush the external end of it, but that didn't
alleviate the problem.  The vet emptied Beuhler's bladder with a needle to
temporarily relieve him, gave him an antibiotic injection, and sent him
home with a bottle of Amoxi - in the hope that the blockage is caused by
an infection rather than stones.
 
Before we left, the vet also did a urinalysis and showed me the test tube -
the bottom was filled with sediment.
 
So, right now, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!  Beuhler was happy to get home
and ran around the house for a little while - trying, unsuccessfully, to
urinate in each litter box he encountered.  He climbed back into his cage
and went to sleep, where he is curled up in his hammock now as I write
this.  If Beuhler still can't urinate on his own tomorrow, what do I do?
If his bladder is filling up again with crystals again, is there any point
in prolonging his ordeal?  (I wish the darned results were back from the
lab with the analysis of the stones, that might indicate some dietary
change that could help him in the long term.) But what do I do for now?
Keep taking him back to the vet for relief by a needle?  Is there anything
else to be done?  Take him to another vet for a second opinion?  (I'm in
Northern New Jersey - any vet recommendations?) Are there any herbal or
wholistic treatments for this?
 
If any of you have any advice, please email me privately.  Beuhler needs
immediate help, or an end to his ordeal - the thought of which has me
sitting here crying, so I'll sign off now.
 
Thank you for bearing with me to read this.
 
Sincerely,
Nancy Farlow
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[Posted in FML issue 2980]