Dear Sandra:
 
>He was on pred for two weeks, and his poop never got to the formed stage,
>but at least it was not an olive green blob or smear of watery mucous.
>My question is--now what?  Put him back on pred?  Antibiotics?  Both?
>Kaopectate does nothing for him.  How does one slow the gut transit time
>(if that's why you get the green icky poops)?  He is a rotund ferret, so
>weight loss is not a concern at this point, and he is still eating.
 
Some ferrets take a while to come around.  The antibiotics definitely are
of no use at this point, and really do very little in the later stages of
ECE - in the first week they prevent potentially life-threatening secondary
infections.
 
What you don't want to do is to try to slow the GI transit time.  This
generally causes more problems than it helps.  If the body wants to move
things through qucikely, it has its reasons, and we shouldn't interfere
with it.  As long as ferrets do not dehydrate from diarrhea, it is always
best to let the food move through at its own pace, whatever that is.
 
I also don't think that Kaopectate does much in ferrets.
 
He's eating and there is no weight loss, so I don't think we need to be
overly concerned that his stolls are a bit mushy at this point.  How long
has it been since he has finished the prednisone?
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3305]