Hi there everybody!  I've been away for awhile but I hope that everyone
is doing well and all the furries are creating havoc like they should but
still charming as ever!  Tessa and Frodo are doing great!
 
I'm sending this along for my friend Judith who doesn't have access to
the FML in hopes of figuring out something for her ferret Wolfi.  Please
forward any advice/thoughts directly to me or Judith at:
 
[log in to unmask]
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Thanks so much and hugs to all!
 
George, Jasper and the Crew
 
 ---------
I have a 3 1/2 year old ferret.  A year ago, he began having persistant
diarrhea.  His stool is loose, greenish or yellowish in colour and
contains a large amount of mucous.  Sometimes it has bits of undigested
food in it.  Sometimes it's foamy.  He was not in contact with any other
ferrets at the time.
 
When it first started, he showed signs of vomitting and x-rays indicated
the presence of a foreigh body in his stomach.  My vet did an exploratory
and found nothing.  He ran the bowel and could find no abnormalities.
 
A fecal cytology in July indicated that he has a Clostridium perfringens
infection.  He was treated with Moxilean.  The diarrhea improved for a
couple of days and then returned..
 
In October, we switched to Tylosin and used this in combination with
Moxilean as a cytology indicated that the C. perfringens infection was
still present.  He was also switched to a hypoallergenic cat food.  The
Diarrhea got a bit better for several days after re-starting the Moxilean
but got worse again as the treatment progressed.
 
In December, we took him off the Tylosin and put him on Chloramphenical
and Prednisone.  His stool improved by about 60%.  There was still mucous
but it was more formed than it had been in awhile.  On January 14 he
started another course of Chloramphenical (ten days) and the Prednisone
was reduced to every other day.  He is now on the Prednisone every third
day and his stool is full of mucous again.  One day last week, he actually
had a perfectly formed movement except that it had a huge blob of very
thick mucous on the end.
 
His energy level is high but he's quite skinny.  He's exhibiting signs of
adrenal disease as well.
 
Has anybody else seen something like this?  Can you suggest any further
tests etc.  that could be done in order to determine what is going on
here?  Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
 
Please e-mail me directly at [log in to unmask]
 
Thanks
Judith Emery
[Posted in FML issue 3310]