A few weeks ago, my ferret began vomitting on and off after eating his
kibble.  After a vet visit and tests, we went to syringe feeding for
several weeks and that stopped the vomiting.  He was fine except for
some minor occasional grinding the last few weeks of eating baby food
with the store bought Marshall "duck soup"(which looks like ground up
kibble but with more natural ingredients).  Cheerios and other cookie
treats he never had a problem with but the brands of food i had caused
him to vomit up mucous and the undigested food.
 
After x-rays and bloodwork showed nothing conclusive, i researched and
thought it was a food allergy.  I bought 3 different brands(2 devoid of
corn or corn gluten), tried one, he ate fine 3 times last night, 8pm,
2am, 4am(yes, he wakes me up to be fed) but around 7am, a couple pieces
we had just fed came up.  So gluten allergy is mostly ruled out.  This
all started about a week or 2 after treatment for helicobacter and I
trust him for the past 5 years to never eat anything that could have
caused a blockage.  His weight was way down but since the hand-feeding
he is all the way up to his pre-illness weight.  So my new theory is a
gastric ulcer aggrevated by the hard abbrasive food and brought on by
the helicobacter.  Since we didn't do hard food for so long then had
several good feedings, could I have reaggrevated?
 
If this isn't a possibility, the only other option is exploratory looking
for lesions, tumors, blockages, or enlarged organs pushing on the
stomach(he was anemic at the time of the bloodwork and his numbers were
consistant with that but had lower-norm WBC count and slightly elevated
liver enzymes).  And even though he looks healthy and alert, he is around
6 years old and anything to avoid a risky surgery is worth taking.  He is
now eating some mush mix I make along with kibble soaked and softened in
homemade chicken broth.  While this is working, I fear it may not be
addressing the cause.  Have antibiotics and carafate to give but the
stress of giving the meds can't be good for ulcers.  He likes the taste
of carafate so beginning dosing of that.
 
Anyone with thoughts, opinions or experience please help.
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Thank you
scott & frantic
[Posted in FML issue 4764]