Dear ferret people,
 
About a week ago I wrote about my ferret Ramone, who'd had a bout of
vomiting & bloody diarrhea.  thank you to the couple of people who
responded, and especially to Dr. Williams, who helped me to figure out
that we probably did have ECE - brought home on my hands or clothes from
a pet store where i was handling the babies.  I'm writing now with an
update and some questions for those who've been thru it.
 
Ramie feels much better, after a week on amoxy, pepto, & carafate.  His
appetite is still very depressed tho; luckily he was quite pudgy when he
got sick.  Meanwhile, our other ferret, Chloe, started to lose her interest
in food a day or 2 after Ramie got sick.  We started her on the same meds
right away.  A few days after that she got the gross green diarrhea, which
has now been going on for 2-3 days.  However, she remains bright-eyed and
reasonably energetic.
 
Neither one will touch kibble.  Both drink water on their own.  They will
both eat very small amounts of Bob's chicken gravy 2 or 3 times a day.
They will eat the gravy mixed up to almost half with chicken baby food,
but any greater proportion of babyfood and they refuse it utterly.  They
both love ferretone and sometimes i can bribe them to eat a bit more by
"seasoning" the gravy with it after they've stopped eating.  Also they'll
only eat if i hold them & keep putting their nose back in it... they will
not eat independently.
 
From what i read this could go on a long time.  Here's my questions:
 
- the meds were prescribed for a week. Ramone's week is now up.  Should
we keep them on them for as long as they are having symptoms, including
not wanting to eat? Or just the pepto & carafate but discontinue the
amoxy? etc.
 
- Ramone is still looking chubby after a week of barely eating - but Clo
never got fat this winter.  She was about 1.75 lb when this started.  so
i am worried about her losing much weight... I guess i'm looking more for
support here than prescriptions.
 
- finally, carafate.  the emergency vet gave us a liquid for Ramone,
which is easy to get into them.  My regular vet gave us a powder - I
think it's crushed pills actually - saying to give a pinch 3x/day.  Hmm.
Any advice about this?
 
thank you all, lovely ferret people.
 
---shen
[Posted in FML issue 3290]