Dear Rev. Sims:
 
>Our 5 year old Hob, Cloud Dancer, is extremely ill.  Went from weight of
>5.2 lbs to 2.45 lbs in 48 hours.  Bloody stool and severe dehydration.
>Have been to the vet Fri, Sat., & Monday.  Did sub-Q hydration with 100ml
>Ringers Lactate Solution plus antibiotic .05cc Cefa-Drops (Cefadroxil)
>2x/day, forcing 3 cc ferrevite & 3 cc A/D 3x/day.
>
>Prognosis: Heliobacter causing Ulcers, thus bleeding, or lymphosarcoma,
>cancer of digestive system.  Cloudy perks up after hydration, but he still
>cries.  Vet fears the worse, but says only biopsy or surgery will determine
>if lymphosarcoma and that Cloudy will not survive either, in his weakened
>condition....
 
Forgive me for butting in, but a couple of things jump out at me from your
post that I am a little bit concerned about.  When you say bloody stool, I
am assuming fresh red blood, not black tarry stools.
 
As we discussed yesterday, the most common cause of true bloody stool would
be shock, in which the blood pools in the intestine and is passed in the
bowel movement.  Ulcers, being in the stomach, do not pass fresh blood
from the anus - it usually is partially digested and turned black.  In my
experience, Helicobacter doesn't result in bleeding either.  Also ulcers
often show premonitory signs - grinding teeth, going off feed, etc.
 
Lymphoma is also not a major cause of bleeding.  These tumors also don't
pop up immediately - you usually see poor stools for a while, at least,
and most animals with intestinal lymphoma show pretty severe diarrhea as
a clinical sign.
 
First step - let's get some bloodwork if we haven't already - find out
what degree of anemia that Cloud has, and see if there are any other
abnormalities evident.  Stick with the hydration control - right now,
that's the most important part!  Just to be on the safe side - how are
all of the other ferrets, and are there any new additions?
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3265]