Hello knowledgable vets that abound on the FML!  Maybe one of you could
offer your opinion about something.
 
We have a rescue in - he's been here maybe just over a month.  Not for lack
of people wanting him but because we can't give him up.  He was fine when he
arrived - perhaps a little underweight from being fed an extremely improper
diet, but everything else was fine.  He learned to like raisins, he now
worships the milkbone and everything was hunky dorey in the litterbox
department.
 
After his neuter he began having diarhea - just sorta "the runs" at first -
my vet said it was probably a result of the stress of the neuter, and since
that's not uncommon I agreed.  Then his diarhea got worse, and appeared to
have a seedlike quality (someone else mentioned something about that on here
as well recently).  Then it had a fiberous quality, as though there were
long strands in his fecal matter.  My vet was concerned about tapeworm,
although he said he's never seen tapeworm in a ferret before.  It turned out
not to be tapeworm, but what appeared to be strands of mucous in the feces.
The fecal matter itself ranges from a normal colour to yellowish but so far
hasn't been too green.
 
It appears to be catching because some other ferrest are showing signs of
the same thing, but there are no other symptoms.  No fatigue, no
dehydration, everyone's eating and playing and tugging on the cage bars to
come out and play.
 
My vet gave me Antirobe Aquadrops - liquid clindamycin - at .2 -.4 mls twice
a day per ferret, but he doesn't know if it will do the trick.  He didn't
seem to think Amoxi was going to cut it.  My question is - have any of the
other vets on here used Clindamycin in ferrets and has it worked??  We
usually use Amoxi for most of our ferrets with diahrea, and when they had
campylobactor we used erythromycin which cleared them up nicely and quickly,
but this antibiotic is new to me.  Any comments???
 
Also, what's the deal with the Ivermectin?  My vet says he's had great
success ridding guniea pigs of mites with it, and so-so success in cats, but
he thinks it might work for ferrets.  My other vet also can't stop talking
about Ivermectin.  Is it safe for ferrets?  We are trying to find my vet a
ferret with earmites to try it on, but I'd like a second opinion before I
offer up my fuzzies as guinea pigs (no offense to guniea pig owners on the
list).
 
Thanks for any help you can offer,
 
Sheena and the eight wherrets
GVFIS, FAGV and FFCR
 
[Moderator's note: I know some vets who prescribe ivermectin injectable
for ear mites.  Works *great* in my experience. BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1524]