I forgot to mention that I ran into those links because I was looking
through things available at http://www.mic.ki.se/Diseases/c22.html
(Opps, forgot to send this during the wee hours to get it into the
Tuesday FML -- kind of distracted with Chiclet so sick -- so I'll add
to it and send it today.)
Boyd, that sounds like ulcers or a blockage. You can find a lot about
these by searching in
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/ and
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html
Tips for finding posts from vets on the topic: for the first on look for
posts from addresses with "williams", "AFERRETVET", "ferrethealer",
"drkaren", "kittydoc", etc. For the second you can also look for vet's
names or can look for posts on ulcers and others on blockages which also
have "FHL" in the subject line. There are also excellent tips from
non-vets, but these topics have been discussed a lot of times so I figure
that you might want to do a more narrow search first since there are may
posts on these subjects.
This ferret needs vet care right away; the tarry black is digested blood,
the grinding is from nausea. Narrow stools can indicate a partial
blockage. Is the ferret eating and drinking?
Finding a ferret vet (and also a pile of health and legislation info):
go to http://www.ferretcongress.org
and open the critical refs. Honestly, though, even a vet who doesn't
know ferrets is a LOT better than no vet care at all, and this ferrets
needs evaluation, maybe the new liquid prep of Carafate and then once
the bleeding is better under control other meds, etc. If there is a
life-threatening blockage causing the bleeding then surgery will be
called for. There is no substitute for vet care.
Linda, there are many possible causes of diarrhea. Here is the best
write up on ECE out there (There are a few medical photos attached
because it also is for vets.): http://www.afip.org/ferrets/ECE/ECE.html .
Note that if it is ECE you and your ferrets need to stay away from other
ferrets for at least 8 months; we didn't even go into a pet store (Used
http://theferretstore.com instead.) for over a full year to be safest for
other ferrets and their people. Also, DO check the topic in the archives
given in the second paragraph; there is a lot of info available.
Monkeypox: highly UNlikely because it is a disease primarily of rodents
and to a lesser extent of primates, but no one has challenged a ferret
with it as far as I have read.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/monkeypox/animalguidance.htm (CDC)
and
http://www.smartgroups.com/message/viewdiscussion.cfm?gid=1423922
&messageid=5116
(replies to your question on the FHL)
You can tell I was exhausted. Here are the links I thought I sent last
night:
Splenomegaly: http://www.rud.dk/ferrets/faqhtml/med/spleen.html
(pieces by Doctors Williams, Brown, Dutton, and Weiss -- seems to be
from Ferretcentral; someone needed these)
http://vein.library.usyd.edu.au/links/ferrets.html#diseases (a
source with a bunch of neat links but for some things there are more
up to date links at http://www.ferretcongress.org)
Some of the many links there include:
Environmental enrichment for ferrets and ferret intelligence stuff in
the bibliography, too:
http://www.nalusda.gov/awic/pubs/enrich/ferrets.htm
http://www.vet.uga.edu/ivcvm/1999/Greenacre/greenacre.htm (technique
for urethral catheterization of the male domestic ferret)
Okay, it is mosquito season (heartworm) so I'm posting this from
Mike's page to the FML :
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/heartworm.htm
[Posted in FML issue 4189]
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