Black and tarry feces indicate bleeding high in the GI tract.  Grinding
indicates nausea.  Weight loss can be from a number of things?  Was
Carafate used till healed and then a run of as long as 6 weeks of
combined helicobacter treatment meds tried afterward?  What tests were
done?
 
Mark, the most common cause of fur loss on the trunk or limbs (since tail
fur loss often has other causes) is not pancreatic, it is from
hyperestrogenic hormonal imbalances due to adrenal neoplasia.
 
Oh, influenza -- yes, ferrets DO get it, but we have found precautions
(especially tons of hand washing) usually keep them safe.  (OT but may
interest so I'll be brief: Interestingly, I was reading about the WWI
influenza a few months back and noted three things: it is thought now
by some to have originated in the U.S. in a rural area but there was a
training camp with bad sanitation that opened there and then it went to
the front while at the campsite's location the disease died off -- then
it was brought back from the front, studies of cadavers that were well
enough preserved apparently found a common influenza type, studies of
tuberculosis found a marked decrease in rates immediately after the
influenza so some researchers think that the high death rate --
especially of the young -- then was among those with undiscovered
tuberculosis.)
 
Ferrets are actually used to develop some influenza vaccines and there is
at least one FML member who has adopted such study ferrets.
 
Pigs and some domestic poultry animals also get influenza, which is one
reason why it's best to not house ferrets with such animals.  Many novel
influenzas which wind up circulating have been originally from pigs or
such birds and them crossed species lines.
 
Elevated blood sugar: this is much harder to handle in ferrets than
reduced blood sugar from insulinoma so follow-up tests likely make
sense in case it happens again.
 
Sukie
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
http://www.ferretcongress.org (recommended resource)
http://radio.weblogs.com/0110648/ (Just for fun links if you miss
Wendy Waldman, Arlo Guthrie, the Smothers Brothers, Richie Havens,
Sam the Sham, Michelle Shocked, the Incredible String Band, or Velvet
Underground)
[Posted in FML issue 4018]