To Jim LaPeyre:
 
        > ...As the diarrhea was getting greener, I thought
>of the Green Slime disease...
 
        Jim, as you told me in another letter, you are missing one of the big
incriminators for the Green diarrhea....exposure to other ferrets.  A ferret
show a year ago in a state where the Grren diarrhea has not been seen is not
very incriminating....Remember that a lot of diseases will cause foul-smelling
green diarrhea - coccidiosis, lymphosarcoma, Helicobacter, Campylobacter, and
several others.  There is the possibility of you bringing it home to him,
especially if you have been around affected ferrets.  The possibility is small
although I would not want to rule it out.
 
 
>so as of right now, we have a ferret with awful green diarrhea, which
>smells and is extremely runny.  He hasn't eaten willingly in several
>days.  We made up some Duck Soup, out of pedialyte and his normal food,
>along with warm water and nutrical.  The dvm
>gave us some pepto-bismol with some sort of anti-diarrheal medicine in it
>which she says they use for dogs and cats.  She also gave us
>chloranphemicol, to be used for at least ten days.  (I am hesitating on
>using this for two reasons: first, it seems to b
>designed for symptoms more consistent with some other diseases; (2) we
>are going out of town and I'm not really sure I want to stick our
>ferret-sitter with the chore of administering this difficult drug.  The
>dvm, Dr. Alton, said that she is administering
>the chloranphemicol as a precaution, kind of a "in case this is what he's
>got" thing.)
 
        I would suggest Amoxicillin 10-20mg/lb twice daily.  It's a broader
spectrum antibiotic which is well-tolerated in ferrets and has less side
effects.  Chloramphenicol is indicated with Campylobacter, but does not touch
most of the rest of the diseases.
 
        You may want to note that Pepto can be given as 1/15th of a tablet
crushed up in food.  Ferrets generally tolerate that better than the liquid
form, which they hate. (LISTEN UP, EVERYBODY!!!!)
 
        Hang in there - Winston will most likley come around, but it often takes
a while.
[Posted in FML issue 0993]