Hi Ferret Folk
 
We humbley request good thoughts and prayers for Mitzy.  Yesterday I
noticed that she had severe diarhhea.  I took her to Dr. Cathy this morning
and Mitzy was ever so cooperative just before we left home.  I allowed her
to poop on the floor, so I could take a sample with me.
 
Dr. Cathy took a slide of it and looked at it under the microscope.  There
is no bacteria in it.  Now, one would think that this is a good thing, well
apparently it's not.  There should be some natural flora (good bacteria)
in there and the few bacteria that are there are dead.  Dr. Cathy says it
should be "swimming with bacteria" .  The thought here is that she is
pooping out only partially digested food, It's pretty seedy.  So, maybe she
has an inflammatory bowel.  The stool is pretty yellow, so the good Dr.
thinks there may be some liver involvement or this may be a condition that
she has had for awhile and has progressed slowly.  She has always been a
ferret who had diarrhea on and of , but it never lasted and never caused
her to stop eating or playing so I never panicked.  We didn't start her on
antibiotics because there are no bacteria to kill.  She thought about
starting her on prednisone, but wants to wait for the blood work to come
back, to rule out liver involvement.
 
For now the best I can do is to keep her hydrated.  Yes I did buy some
pedialyte today.  The gatorade was a quick fix as I was on my way out the
door to go to work when I discovered she wasn't well.  She did take the
gatorade if I hid it in her duck soup.  Now for the bowel, we are trying to
replace some of the good bacteria, by feeding her a live culture yogurt.
The vet recommended 2 different brands and I got the Astro.  I bought
several different flavors and she hates them all.  However she will eat it
if I hide it in her duck soup.  Thank goodness I got them hooked on duck
soup as a treat.  It sure comes in handy when they are sick!  It doesn't
take much coaching to make them eat it and you can hide a world of nasties
in it!  Boy you have to be sneaky when you are a Mom!  <VBG>
 
The third and last thing we are doing is giving her children's kaopectate 3
times a day.  The stools have slowed down some and she is sleeping a lot.
I am giving her the duck soup with all of her treats hidden in it about
every 2-3 hrs.  All we can do is wait to hear about the blood work and take
it from there.
 
Myself, I've had about 3 hours sleep.  It's a good thing I'm off for the
week-end.  I'll be able to get her over the worst of it.  She is eating her
kibble and is drinking some water on her own, but not nearly enough to keep
her going.  I'm hoping that will increase as she starts feeling better.
Must go now, I have duck soup to Dr. up (tee hee).
 
Sally St Germain and her 10 " Lillte Saints"
Hi.....my name is Sally.....I am a ferret-a-holic!!!!!
[Posted in FML issue 2851]