Ron H. asked:
>I don't know how many times this has been discussed but, Tolly, my 2.5 yr
>old has been throwing-up and passing a sometimes green/sometimes blood type
>of liquid....  My question is could this be caused by stress since my wife
>and I have been out of town the past 2 week-ends ?  If not stress or
>blockage or the greenies, could this be the ferret flu, if there is such a
>thing?
 
    Sure could, but I wouldn't rule out other causes of diarrhea.  First,
there will always be a lot of bacteria in the stool.  That is a very
insensitive test.  I hope that your vet also tested for parasties along with
looking at the bacteria.
 
    Blood in the stool is a serious problem.  Things that I would think of
is a gastric ulcer, especially if your ferret was upset by your absence, a
foreign body (not all blockages are complete), proliferative colitis
(usually small frequent stools with blood or mucus are passed), and I
wouldn't give up on ECE, although the blood is not characteristic.
 
    Let's go a couple of days on the antibiotics (5 or so), and if there is
no improvement, a thorough workup, to include a barium series is in order.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 1403]