This is one that can be difficult to figure out why sometimes.

Have you had a fecal test done to see if any specific bacteria is
causing the diarrhea? There are some that don't show up on every stool
(such as coccidia) so if nothing shows up the 1st time it may be
prudent to do another at a later time.

Have any antibiotics been tried? Perhaps a round of a mild antibiotic
like amoxi might be worth looking into.

If he started the diarrhea around the time, or shortly after, the pred
was started it could be the medication. Compounding may not agree with
your little one possibly. Prednisilone can be bought at the human
pharmacy, my vet calls it in and I pick it up at Kmart or Walgreens.

A note on the pred, it is only in their systems for about 8 hours, so
for insulinoma it may need to be given twice or three times daily
depending on how well it controls the blood sugar. Please keep in mind
that even though we don't see symptoms, that may not be an indicator
that blood sugar is low. Through the years I've done random testing and
had several test in the 20's to 30's (and tested again to make sure it
wasn't a quirk) that we didn't know had insulinoma because they weren't
showing symptoms. I've had issues with diarrhea in little ones that
insulinoma isn't well controlled. I usually start with 0.2 of generic
prednisilone (Hi-tech) and go up from there if needed.

If the pepto helps the diarrhea, I use an easier way to give it that
most like. The .8 dosage is fairly high, in my experience, and I start
with 0.2- 0.4 and go up from there as needed. I first pull up the pepto
in the syringe, then pull up either their recipe or heavy whipping
cream to fill the syringe. Typically I use heavy whipping cream as most
ferrets tolerate it well, but some don't so your own experience here
with what works for your ferret would be best. If using heavy whipping
cream, I turn on the hot tap water and hold the syringe sideways under
the running water for a few seconds, then I rub the syringe vigorously
between my palms to mix the pepto and heavy whipping cream. The hot
water helps to 'thin' the cold heavy whipping cream and allows it to
mix together more easily.

I've mixed pepto tablets when making recipe and that will help
sometimes, but I get better results from the individual dosing.

With any ferret illness, it's good to try and keep stress to the
minimum, which includes giving medications as gently as possible so
I'm constantly searching for less stressful ways.

I hope these ideas are helpful.

tle
www.ferretfamilyservices.org

[Posted in FML 8080]