To Rob Adlers:
>I'm getting concerned.....she's become a big sausage.  When you pick her up
>over the last two weeks, she kacks...likes she's preparing to puke...but
>never does.  This doesn't persist for too long.  However, if you decide to
>poke her stomach a bit (which has become VERY big.....hangs almost to the
>ground and feels/ looks like a tight water balloon) she'll kack again once
>in awhile.
 
    Well, I certainly don't like the fact that when you pick her up she acts
as if she s going to vomit.  While many ferrets will start putting on weight
at this time of year, the rapid gain and the suggestion that she is like a
sausage or a water balloon is distressing.
 
    I think she should probably go in for an abdominal X-ray.  The X-ray
will be able to tell if her stomach is full of fat or full of fluid.  An
abdomen full of fluid is not a good thing.  Whenever I hear of massive
abdominal size enlargemetn - the firs thing I think of is heart disease, in
which the abdomen may fill up with water.
 
    While at her age heart disease would be very unlikely, this is one of
those times when you should bite the bullet and get that abdominal X-ray
done....
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
[Posted in FML issue 1391]