Dr. Williams and Dr. Brown,
 
Thanks for your help regarding Alky's problem.  She has definitely begun to get
uncomfortable - she has been licking the area and dragging herself along on the
carpet, which has only served to get the external area even more inflamed.
However, she is still eating and playing normally, although she is very
sensitive to being touched in her lower abdomen.  On Dr. William's advice, I
took her back to the vet last night for a repeat urinalysis.  This time, the
urinalysis showed traces of red and white blood cells, which makes a urinary
tract infection a prime suspect here.  (You were right about not relying on
only one urinalysis.)  The rest of the urinalysis (protein, sugar, pH) was
normal, thank goodness.  She also had no fever.  The vet sent the urine off for
culture, and has put her on amoxicillin presumptively pending the lab results.
He also gave us some Panalog cream to apply topically for external irritation.
We will recheck the urine in 7 days.
 
You both suggested the possibility of an adrenal problem.  The vet said he's
seen discharge similar to this in such cases, so we should definitely keep it
in mind.  However, given the urinalysis, a UTI would be the thing to treat for
first.  BTW - her coat looks normal - just the usual light spring shedding.
 
I have a couple of questions.  What are the primary organisms that one usually
sees in ferret UTI's?  E. coli, like in people?  And what are the chances of
upper tract involvement?  I was worried about this since this has been an
ongoing problem for 2-3 weeks now.  I'm assuming that since she has no fever
and is playing and eating normally, and that the urine protein was normal, that
there's no kidney involvement.  Is this a safe assumption??  Am I worrying too
much?  Anyway - thanks to both of you for your help.  I'll keep you updated on
Alky's progress.
 
Liesl Fisher
 
[Posted in FML issue 0790]