Dear Raki:
 
>My little girl Phoebe pooped out a piece of cloth last night (more like
>a string).  I have been monitoring and haven't seen any more string since
>then.  She has been given Laxatone a couple of times.  She hasn't wanted
>to eat anything but the duck soup, which I guess is a good sign that she
>is interested in that.  She is drinking from her water bottle on her own.
>Her poops have been anywhere from green slime to seedy since this morning
>but she is still pooping.  She seems very aware and is still active.  She
>hasn't vomitted or gagged, at least not that I have seen.  The string
>came from the frayed edge of an old flannel sheet.  She seems to be doing
>fine except for the awful poops.  How worried do I need to be about a
>blockage?
 
You've got to continue to be vigilant - you've seen that she has a foreign
body, and for a couple of days, we have to worry about a blockage.  Cloth
is a very common cause of intestinal blockage and one of the most
dangerous.  Strings can anchor within the intestine, and as the intestine
tries to move it along by contracting, can actually saw an ulcer into the
lining of the stomach.  (A side note of great importance: Sometimes a
ferret passing a string or piece of cloth will actually pass only a
fraction, and run about with a string hanging from the anus.  It is key
that you don't pull it, because you can strip out colonic and rectal mucosa
as you pull it out.  A far better idea is to snip off the hanging thread
close to the anus, and wait for the ferret to pass the rest.)
 
Monitoring poop is more than just looking at it.  I hope that you are
actively going through it with your fingers in a bowl of water - you will
easily find additional cloth fragments in this way.  You'll know when you
are totally out of the woods - she will go back on her food and act like
the ferret she was a week ago.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3266]