You may remember me telling the story about Red Dog - my eight year old who
had his spleen and a tumor the size of a tennis ball removed no too long ago.
 
Well, he was doing so well, a little bit wobbly sometimes and the fur was
starting to grow back on his belly from the surgery, but I figured he might
have insulinoma now and was giving him liquid diet supplements just in case.
 
Last week, I noticed that all of his muscle mass was gone - he had lost a lot
more wieght than just from the surgery, and his legs and head were boney.  So
I started to hand feed him and put him in his own cage for observation.
 
Well, I had to force feed him, and he really was pooping nothing but black
sludge and had no energy.  I put him on Amoxicillian and Pepto in case of an
ulcer (he was grinding his teeth), but there was still something different
and I could not put my finger on it.
 
Well, three days ago he went over 24 hours without passing any stool.  By
this time I was rehydrating with ringers and just trying to get anything down
his throat to keep him alive.  Wednesday night, he finally took a poop (urine
was coming out fine and a good color).  I was so thrilled!  It was very runny
and I was changing the paper (he won't use a litter box when he feels ill)
when I noticed that there was a BIG lump in it.
 
Now, this might be grose to some, so skip this paragraph, but when you want
to learn something about your ferret's health, a lot can be learned from the
poop.  I took the lump into the bathroom and washed it off and disected it.
 It was a very hard fur ball the size of a kidney bean!  Talk about plugged
plumbing!
 
Now, I realize Dog had been licking his incision to keep it clean, but the
fur is just growing back, so this fur ball has got to be much older than
that.  He is just shedding now as well, so my theory is that this ball has
been growing for awhile.
 
Needless to say - everyone in the house is getting laxitive on a regular
basis from now on.  this is the second ferret in my house in two years with a
fur ball problem.
 
As to Red Dog - he may never build back the muscle he had before, but he
decided to eat on his own today and has been pooping regularly since the fur
ball passed.  He was even a little bit frisky with me this morning.  Today's
evening poop even had some shape to it and it was the right color.  I'm
feeding him Iams canned chicken cat food (he was not crazy about the human
baby version).  I'm still injecting fluids because he is still dehydrated,
but I think the worst is over (for now).
 
Just wanted to share this...  Keep your eyes open.
 
Pam Grant
[Posted in FML issue 1199]