Dear Lisa:
 
>How do you know if your ferret has stomach blockage??...or when to rush
>them to the emergency room for swallowing something??
 
Stomach blockages can be really perplexing in ferrets.  Many times you and
your vet have to go on instinct and intuition rather than good hard facts.
When your index of suspicion is high - sudden anorexia, lethargy and no
poops in a young ferret less than a year of age or a ferret with a known
history or eating the non-edible, then you go to the vet.  Now a careful
abdominal palpation may show pain in the abdomen, but often it doesn't.
Then you go to an X-ray.  Routine X-rays show up about 10% of foreign
bodies - only bone and metal are obvious on an X-ray - and ferrets rarely
eat those.  So you go to a contrast study, where barium is given by moth,
in order to outline the foreign body.  That doubles the possiblity of
finding it, but that still leaves 80% that are undiagnosed.
 
At this point, as a vet you look at the available data and decide whether
to go in surgically, or wait, remembering that the longer you wait, the
less of a surgical candidate the ferret becomes.
 
>....She seemed to be okay after she threw up....but I kept checking on her
>during the night to make sure she was breathing.  The next morning...she
>was fine...she and Tazz were playing and I checked her poop....it was a
>very light brown....but now it's back to normal.
 
Gastrointestinal foreign bodies in ferrets will rarely cause death within
24 hours.  In most cases, only partial blockage occurs, with GI contents
passing around the blockage for a while (you may see pencil lead thin
stools).  When the blockage hits a part of the tract where a relatively
wide diameter narrows abruptly, such as where the stomach empties into
the small intestine, that's when the real problem startss, when the pain
begins, and when the clock really starts to tick.  A good surgeon believes
"Never let the sun go down on a GI obstruction."
 
>If she throws up....does that mean she is ok??...and if she wasn't able
>to throw it up....would that mean she has stomach blockage and would have
>to get her to surgery??  She had thrown up once before when I first got
>her....but that was because I feed her too many treats and after she threw
>it up...she was okay.
 
Ferrets can have waxing and waning signs - the obstruction gets in a tight
place, and then moves back or forward, and the signs lessen or disappear
for a coupleof days.  This is part of what makes them so furstrating!  If
they look good after the initial episode - it doesn't mean that everything
is all right (unless you find something in the poop!
 
A couple of other pointers for foreign bodies:
 
1. Petromalt or Laxatone really do little for large hairballs - bu the
time that most are suspected or diagnosed - they are too big for anything
to pass.  It may help a little with latex, rubber, or cloth, but don't
count on them too much - they usually let you down.
 
2. If you are suspecting a foreign object: go thorugh the poop carefully.
Put all poops in a bowl of water and go through them with your fingers
(Yeech!)  But you'll find foreign material if its there - and if you find
some, you can expect there's more inside.
 
3. Vomiting may be seen with obstruction, but you should not be thinking
that whenever your ferret vomits, there is an obstruction - simply one of
many things to consider.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVm
 
Stay sharp and stay alert - this ferret bears close watching.
[Posted in FML issue 3265]