To Diane Emery:
 
>Hi- I am very worried about Rocket (our 1.5 yr old male).  Yesterday
>morning he had (and this is very gross, sorry) explosive diahrea (all over
>the wall behind his cage, on his blankets, his food bowl, etc.) He is
>acting normally, eating, playing, dooking, etc...  were smoking... Could
>this somehow have made him sick??
 
The most important thing that you noticed is that he is acting and playing
normally.  That's a good sign.  And if he continues to eat or drink
normally, the trip to the vet's is probably not required for rehydration at
this point.  I'm not familiar with an allergy to smoke.  Acutally the signs
suggest stress more than anything else, but I think that you would have to
also consider some type of gastrointestinal indiscretion (perhaps he was
fed, or found something that he is not used to.) The vast majority of
diarrheas in ferrets are self-limiting, meaning that they clear up on their
own.  Stay with a bland diet, but take Rocket to the vet immediately should
you smell a foul odor from the diarrhea, or should it contain blood or
become black in color, or should he stop eating and being active.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP              Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
Dept. of Veterinary Pathology               [log in to unmask]
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
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[Posted in FML issue 1435]