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Author wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>I am new to this list, and am joining because I have a very sick fuzzy.
>
>Mr. Roberts is a 7 year old Black Sable. He came to us 2 years ago with
>loose stools. ECE like syndrome went thru our business. His stools have
>never been right, and our vet decided he would probably just have
>abnormal stools forever. He was eating, drinking and holding a decent
>weight. After about 1 1/2 years, he started losing weight, and some
>muscle. Stool samples showed nothing, and we tried Pred. In Nov. we
>came to Florida due to aging, ill parents.
>
>We are living in a camping traqiler, so I tried taking them for walks.
>Mr. R. won't walk in harness. His stools got very loose again, ad the
>muscle wasting got worse. We had quit the pred when he did not get much
>better after 6 weeks of treatment. Anyway, his spleen is so enlarged,
>that the vet nearby and I feel it must be removed, or risk fracture. We
>started Amoxi, flagyl and Pepto bid last Tues. And I had given sub q
>ringers lactate 35cc 2 x day thru Sun. Over this period of time his
>spleen increased by 1/3 to approximately 5cm wide and 15 or more long.
>The doctor drew blood today, and is concerned about bruising on and
>around the draw site. She says he has some auto agglutination going on,
>and questions Ricketssiol disease. Do ferrets get this, and should we
>try any other treatment for the bowel problem. After a week, that is
>only mimimally better.
Dear X:
It certainly sounds like a case of inflammatory bowel disease here -
prior infection with ECE, chronic poor stools, weight loss, splenomegaly.
The lack of response to pred is unusual, but not unheard of - although I
would like to know a bit more about the dosage.
While they conceivably could get it, I have never seen or heard of a
ferret with rickettsial disease, and animals with reckettsial diseases
(such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever) tend to have small hemorrhages
spontaneously not just after the trauma of taking blood. I think we can
push that possibility way down to the bottom of the list, somewhere
around the level of rabies.
Animals with IBD can have blood abnormalities, and this may be the
connection here. I am hopeful that she ordered a platelet count with
this bloodwork (if the sample didn't clot on its own.)
I am a bit concerned with the prospect of surgery when an animal shows
bruising at a phlebotomy site. These animals generally make poor
patients - caution is advised here.
It also appears that you are treating for Helicobacter, in spite of the
fact that the signs are pointing to IBD. The administration of flagyl
and pepto can be very stressful, and can lead to gastric ulcers - which
would compound his problems. Once again, be very careful here in an
older ferret.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 4058]
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