Hello all-
 
I haven't had time to read or post in a very long time, but one of my guys
is in trouble and I'm totally at a loss.  If anyone can help I'd really
appreciate it.
 
Casper (albino MF shelter male, now 3-4 yrs old) first got sick about a 1.5
years ago when I bought home 2 babies, one of whom was an ECE carrier.  He
recovered from the ECE but never regained his full weight, and since then
has had on-again, off-again GI problems.  Now they're on full-force.  He has
frightening weight lossover the last 3-4 months, intermittent vomiting,
diarrhea, and he frequently makes a weird gurgling/hacking noise, especially
when you pick him up.  There's also some hair thinning on tail & shoulder
blades (as in adrenal tumor, but not real advanced yet).  After several
vague antibiotic treatments, the diagnosis (we've been to the vet 6-8 times
in the last year-year&half) was a pernicious strain of helicobacter, so
Casper was on amoxicillin + metronidazole + carafate for a MONTH, with no
real improvement.  He had a GI series which ruled out a blockage (he doesn't
have access to rubber etc., anyway.) The GI series apparently showed some
inflammation/enlargement of the esophagus, so now the guess is esophageal
reflux, so he's on carafate and Zantac.  This course has been two weeks so
far, with increased weight loss and apparently some vomiting still.  He'll
take treats (peanut butter, Nutrical) but I don't see him eat anything on
his own anymore.  I've seen him try to void with no success.  I'm going to
call the vet again to see if they have any ideas, but I'm not real
optimistic there and I'm sort of tired of giving them money to torment my
little guy with more ineffective, bitter antibiotic nastiness.  (But of
course if there's hope, we'll go again.  We need to find another vet, but
that's another story....) My plan is to make a peanut butter-ensure shake
and get him to take some (he wouldn't take any of the duck soup variations I
tried when he first got sick.)
 
Does anybody have and idea what this IS?  Please help, he doesn't have any
more weight to lose.  If you have an idea or know a good ferret vet in the
Philadelphia - Delaware County PA area, please e-mail me directly at
[log in to unmask]  If it bounces back to you, please send it care of my
friend at [log in to unmask]  Thank you so much.
 
Jennifer Lutton
[Posted in FML issue 2110]