To Stephanie P.:
 
>1.  The last day or so Princess' stool has been kind of soft and looks a
>little greenish and mucusy - mostly brown, but a greenish tinge.  She ate
>part of a red sweatshirt a week ago, but passed it and seemed fine
 
    SOft stool for a day or two isn't a major emergency, especially in young,
otherwise healthy ferrets - they often eat things that they shouldn't, but
for the most part, pass it.  Things to look for is a poor appetite, grinding
teeth (a sure sign of abdominal pain), blood in the stools, small or absent
stools, or other signs of distress.
 
   But, as we discussed on the FML yesterday - cloth foreign bodies can
be more insidious that hard ones such as rubber or metal or bone.  Cloth
strings have a habit of getting caught in teh intestinal tract so they can't
move and rubbing hole in the intestine over time.  Or they may act as a
partial blockage and litterally exhaust the intestine around them which is
squeezing and trying to move them along - these animals generally end up
with a thin, almost amuscular loop of bowel where this soft foreign body has
lodged.  I'm not trying to scare you, but just sending a gentle reminder to
the FML that a soft piece of cloth is easily as deadly when eaten as a piece
of latex rubber.
 
    When you notice that your ferret has eaten something that it
shouldmn't, get some Laxatone or Petromalt and administer 1 inch twice
daily for 7-14 days.  This will help coat any foreign material and help it
slide through the rest of the GI tract.
 
>2.  My other question seemed to stump the vet.  Several times a day,
>sometimes when she's eating, sometimes not, Princess starts wheezing
>or coughing.  It >sounds terrible, like a smoker's wheeze.  Any ideas?
 
        First off, it may simply be a dusty environment.  Little ferrets get
under everything that we don't usually clean under and often get a snootful
of loose dust.  I have also seen primarily older ferrets with asthma or
bornchitis.  Usually this can be diagnoses with a routine radiograph of the
thorax, and treated with Theodor (theophyline) a common bronchodilator.
Both animals that I have put on this medication clear in about two weeks or
so.  Finally, wheezing could be a sign of early, severe heart disease.  That
chext X-ray will help eliminate that possibility.
 
Bruce H. Williams, DVM         Dept. of Veterinary Pathology
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath    Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]         Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
                               [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1218]