>Abu has been diagnosed with megasophagus.  It was most likely brought out
>by stress, he had an adrenal operation.  I've searched the archives and I
>only found one ferret (Suzy) to have megasophagus.  Suzy lived active and
>happy for about five months before the megasophagus became a real problem
>and she had to be helped along to the Rainbow Bridge.  Apparently, there
>is no cure for this.  Abu isn't having a problem keeping food down recently
>but he is skinny and weak and I'm afraid he doesn't have even one month
>before I will have to help him along.  Abu is currently on carafate,
>although there's a chance that cisapride could work better.  The problem
>is we can't find it anywhere.  Something about it was taken off the shelves
>because of causing heart problems.  Right now I would try anything.  Abu
>looks miserable and unless someone has suggestions about the megasophagus,
>I think I will need suggestions about helping Abu along.  I've never had
>to do that and I don't know if I can.  I don't want to be selfish and keep
>him here when he doesn't have pretty much any quality to his life.  But I
>don't want to do something that I can't change if there's a chance .  .  .
 
Dear Joy:
 
Boy, I wish I could give you better information, but you are pretty much
right on, and as I know that both your vet and Dr. Weiss are consulting on
the case, there is not much I can add.
 
For tthe benefit of the FML - megaesophagus is an acquired condition of the
esophagus in which the muscular layer that facilitiates swallowing becomes
thin to the point that it can no longer proel food down into the stomach.
In essence, it becomes a large, relatively non-motile bag, and food tends
just to sit in it until it is either regurgitated or moves into the
stomach.  It is luckily a rare condition in ferrets, but is not highly
treatable.  I have seen a number of cases in ferrets, and unfortunately,
none acheived a typical life span.
 
Joy, I'm sure your vet has talked with you about standard megaesophagus
treatment - feeding a gruel from an elevated dish - allowing the liquidy
food to drain into the stomach by gravity.  Carafate really does not treat
the condition, but may help if ulcers form from the food sitting too long
in the esophagus, or from acid reflux from the stomach.
 
One idea that I would like to comment on is that we really have NO idea
what causes this condition - we know several diseases that it is associated
with in dogs and humans, but not in ferrets.  While temporally it may be
associated wtih the adrenal operation, there is really no proof that it is
a result.  Many many ferrets have this operation, and megaesophagus is not
a clinical result.  I think it is probably just coincidental in this case.
Additionally, it would be nice to ascribe it to stress, but to my
knowledge, only gastric ulcers are associated with stress in ferrets.
 
While it would certainly be nice to ascribe every bad (and this is a
terrible one) disease that occurs in our ferrets to a cause, in this case,
we just don't know.  I would not want to see megaesophagus added to a list
of possible adrenal complications without concrete evidence .  Every
disease is causes by something, and medical science has only discovered
quite a few at this point...
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3200]