To Troy Lynn:
>Now for Marley.  I hope our experience will help others. The vets don't
>know why Marley got better but I think I do.  Last night when we got home
>Marley had another dark forest green unformed stool so I dissected it and
>found quite a bit of tangled pieces of fur.
 
    Bravo for you!!!!
 
    I like it when owners take it on themselves to dissect stools.  Too
many owners won't do it, and foreign bodies get missed far too often.
 
    I think you are on the right track.  Many ferrets are getting their
winter coats right now, and now is the time of year when we see a lot of
hairballs.  Hairballs don't often show up on radiographs - sometimes with
barium shots you can see something that looks a bit like hair but only
occasionally.
 
     I would suggest some Laxatone for a week or so, because there is
probably more fur in there working it's way through.....
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
Dept. of Vet Path, AFIP
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Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
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[Posted in FML issue 1383]