Ms Noeli Santisteban <[log in to unmask]>  wrote on 3/26/2005, 2:00 AM:
 >He doesn't eat solid ferret food at all and at the few times I added
 >some on his duck soup the diarrhea came back right away.  He is eating
 >now duck soup ( cat food + AD + Baby food).
 
I have a number of ferrets that currently suffer from IBD.  What I find
most helpful is taking them off any food containing chicken, and using a
combination of meds.
 
I try to find foods they will eat that are turkey or lamb based.  The
problem is, most kibble that contain Turkey also contain chicken.  So,
I have a lot of kids that eat mostly Turkey baby food.  I have tried
mixing other things into this, but usually then they will not eat it.
 
I do occasionally add canned pumpkin to the mix.  Canned pumpkin does
not cure the problem, but it will help for a few days, and occasionally
that helps their systems get back on track.
 
For meds, I find that Imuran is more effective then pred, although some
of mine get a combination of both.  With antibiotics, I find that
changing around what they are getting helps.
 
The combination you mentioned is the treatment for ulcers, and I find
with IBD the Pepto doesn't really help much.  The antibiotic that helps
mine the most is the hated flagyl.  I get the pill form, and give it as
a pill.  I also use Baytril and amoxi, but not all at once.  I will
usually go 2 weeks on one antibiotic, and then stop it until the
diarrhea returns.  I will then start a different antibiotic.
 
I try to use the antibiotics as little as possible, because they do
loose their effectiveness over time.  Also, prolonged use of Baytril can
cause blindness in ferrets.
 
Understanding the causes of IBD can help in planning a treatment program.
I recommend reading the articles at the following links, as they might
be helpful.  The first 2 are links to PDF documents, so you will need
Acrobat Reader to view them.  If you don't have reader, it is a free
download at the Adobe website.
 
    http://www.afip.org/ferrets/Ferret%20IBD.pdf
    http://www.afip.org/ferrets/PDF/Ferret_GI_path_reports.pdf
    http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/eosinophilic.htm
 
I hope some of this information is helpful.
--
Danee
International Ferret Congress Health Issues Coordinator
http://ferretcongress.org
ADV - If your ferret hasn't been tested, you don't know!
For more information visit: http://www.ferretadv.com
You can help fight ADV! Visit:
http://help4adv.terrabox.com/
[Posted in FML issue 4829]