To Charlene Lowe:
 
>Granny's poops are almost
>always very grainy (they are a good brown color and well formed but they
>look like they are made out of wet sand).  About once every month she will
>pass one poop that is almost completely mucous and then back to normal.  I
>was under the impression that this was normal for an older animal with an
>older digestive system.  Does it necessarily mean ECE??
 
        No it doesn't.  Seedy poops simply means that the food is not being
totally digested.  In Granny's case it could be that she has gastic
Helicobacter infection , or perhaps chronic pancreatitis, or some other
problem that is somewhat impairing her ability to digest and absorb all of
the nutrietns in her food.  However, since you say that she has put on a lot
of weight, and generally acts pretty good, I'm hesitant to advocate trying
to track down the abnormality in her sysstem.  Sometimes it's best to leave
well enough alone.
 
> Are much older animals more likely to have reactions??  Is it worth
>the risk??
 
        Older animals probably don't have much of a greater risk than
younger ones.  But distemper vaccination is always worth the risk, because
not only do infected animals die, but before they do, they are a source of
risk to other ferrets...Just make sure you stay in the vet's office for 30
minutes after the shots....
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 1248]