Hello,
 
This is my first posting.  Of course sickness always brings us out for help.
I do have a good vet and he understands ferrets very well.
 
I have 2 ferrets.  Gromit, who is healthy (so far) and has been with me
since he was 8 weeks old.  He is 1 year, 3 months.
 
3 months ago I adopted a shelter rescue, female, very scrawny and so under
stress with thin hair and a bald patch on her tail.  She could be 9 months
or older.  She had a hard life , thought the shelter could not find out
why.  She might have wrongly been fed rodent food by the previous owners,
who were left her by a brother going into the service.
 
We named her Sabrina.  She got her shots and the vet checked her out.  He
noticed she ground down a set of teeth, probably out of loneliness.  It did
not affect her eating: She ate like a horse and quickly gained weight and
all of her hair grew in beautifully.  She had nice solid brown stools.
 
She is much more nervous than Gromit when it comes to other animals and
changes.  So when we left her with a sitter for Christmas for 4 days with
Gromit, she became very stressed.  Our sitter is excellent with ferrets and
other animals and has a very ferret-proof house.  She has other animals
though, plus the change of everything - Sabrina came home with yellow
diarrhea and had stopped eatting and had already lost weight.  Since she
would eat treats: raisins, etc.  it wasn't noticed.  I spoke to the sitter
and she swore that Sabrina got into nothing.  Since she probably didn't
know which side of the litter box Sabrina favored over Gromit, she probably
would have not noticed the lack of stool.  Plus the diarrhea looks like
urine on the litter.
 
I gave Sabrina Nutri-Cal and we went to the vet and he found tapeworm in
Sabrina's feces (most likely from her life before being rescued).  So he
treated her for that.  I had seen her eat a couple of pieces of food
(Totally Ferret), so I thought sh had start eating.  Only she did not
continue to eat when we got home.  In fact a day later, she heaved when I
gave her just Nutri- Cal.  We went back to vet.  He thought that it could
be psycological that she heaved and did not want the Nutri-Cal from me.  He
gave her 3 shots: antibiotic, vitamins, and appetite-stimulant.  And then I
was given the medicine for her, Baytrill (is that the antibiotic or the
vitamins?) to put in her mouth with a syringe.  That night, she ate.  I was
so happy.  Though I can't be sure she ate anything today, though her stool
firmed up some and is now dark brown.  BUT NOW I found a stool with some
GREEN mixed in.  And now I fear it could be BAD and not only that, but
CONTAGIOUS and now Gromit could be in danger, too.
 
All the times I read listings and understood the medical problems.  Now
when I need to know I can't remember, nor find info.  Of course I will call
my vet, and then who knows what the next step is.  Is some in the stool
green?  I only found it in one today (the latest?).  I am awaiting another
and pray for a nice solid, dard brown one!
 
Please let me know what you think.  If you can reply to me directly at:
[log in to unmask]  I would greatly appreciate it!!!
 
Thank you!  Sue Fergesen
[Posted in FML issue 2545]