>Ernie gets episodes of foaming at the mouth, clawing at his mouth and
>running around.  He's not running pell-mell into things but runs to various
>areas, lies down if exhausted then runs again.  The first time it happened
>(~6mo ago) I thought he may have had a blockage from eating a sock
>(favorite pastime) and gave him some laxatone.  I _thought_ this helped
>him.  We would notice episodes such as these once a month or so (hard to
>tell since we are only home in the a.m. and p.m.).
 
Pamela -
 
    Sorry to be so behind in answering email.
 
    This behavior is very characteristic for nausea in ferrets.  All of
these symptoms may be seen independently, or in concert in ferrets with
nausea.  Nauseous ferrets, as well as other mammals, often salivate.  A
small amount of vomit or acid reflux into the mouth appears to be very
irritating, and ferrets will paw at their mouth for up to an hour after
vomiting.  Ferrets often seem to want to run during episodes of vomiting,
often behind or under furniture.
 
    The cause fo the vomiting is much harder to track down, though.
Blockages, Helicobacter infection, and a tumor which is stretching the
capsule of any of several organs are likely culprits, although this is not
an exclsuive list, by far.
 
    Perhaps this will pint your vet in the right direction...
 
Best of luck....
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
Dept. of Vet Path, AFIP
[log in to unmask]  OR
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1297]