Hey guys,
 
We need some help/advice.  We have a little boy ferret (5 years old)
who was recently diagnosed with bladder stones.  One morning he could
not relieve himself and was in terrible discomfort so we rushed him in
immediately.  The Dr. took x-rays, which turned up literally hundreds of
small bladder stones, so they made him comfy and scheduled him for surgery
the following morning to remove and flush them out.  The pre-surgery blood
work showed nothing out of the ordinary aside from his blockage problem.
The vet also did an exploratory to see what else was going on in his tummy
and his adrenals and pancreas looked just fine.  He came though the
surgery like a little trooper, thank God.
 
Well, we just got the stone analysis back and they were Cystine stones...
and from what I've been told are a reoccurring type.  I understand that
a low protein and low salt diet is needed, but how does a ferret stay
healthy with a low protein diet?  I'm feeding him Hills S/D at the moment
and that's very low protein (11% minimum).  Anyone out there with the
same experience with these types of stones?  From what I understand, this
is not very common among ferrets and there's no real treatment to prevent
future episodes.  We really don't want to put our little guy through
another cystotomy.
 
Any help would be greatly appreciated!  You can contact us at:
[log in to unmask]
 
Thanks,
Mom, Dad, the Weasels (Jigger, Bandit, MeeMoe & Nibs) and the little
Angels (Digger & Scamps)
[Posted in FML issue 3806]