Does anyone have any experience with this in ferrets?  My vet said that
she felt a thickening in the intestinal tract of my approximately 4 year
old ferret Sparky.  She did a fecal test which showed nothing.  His feces
are the normal color but jiggle like jello.  Normal X-ray showed no signs
of blockage.  Wednesday we put him on amoxy in case of a bacterial
infection and today chloramphenicol in case of PBD.  If he doesn't show
improvement in 5 days he will go in for barium X-ray.
 
In my Internet search last night, most sites about PBD indicated it was
found in ferrets under 1 year old.  We got Sparky as a rescue (believed
to be about 1 year old) three years ago.  He has always been very
particular about what he eats except for rubber stuff like erasers, etc.
Although not perfect, we have tried to keep him away from this type of
junk.  He has always done a little bit of moth chewing, but lately the
amount has increased and last weekend he completely went off his diet
of Marshalls, L'avian, and Eagle mixed together.  Until Tracy H. told
me how to mix a turkey dish he loves, all I could get him to eat were
cheerios and L'avian premium ferret treats with the dried fruits and
vegetables removed of course.  I looked at my container of treats and
found that the ingredient list showed they had a lot of good
Lactobacillus in them.  Why he continued to eat them and nothing else I
don't understand, but he acted starved at treat time even though his food
dish was full.  Needless to say he has lost weight, but I think that we
are starting to get him to at least hold his own with this turkey dish.
His feces aren't so jiggly anymore and he seems to have more energy.
 
His background is that he was purchased by a dysfunctional family and
kept in an aquarium until he went to a kennel where he was housed in a
small cat cage in a cat room for about 6 months.   His "toy" there was
a hard blue rubber type bone which he half chewed in that time due to
anxiety, frustration, etc.  When we brought him home we replaced it with
a new bone which has been barely touched in the 3 years we have had him.
After we had him for a year, we got him another ferret rescue as a cage
mate.  The first of May, Sparky had his left adrenal removed--the right
looked good and there were no insulomas.  His hair returned beautifully.
Cocoa died of an abdominal cancer July 2 and at the end of July we had
two weeks where, other than daily feed, water, and litter box cleanings,
Sparky had very little attention because no one was at home.  Shortly
thereafter, he completely went off his regular diet and now we are
trying to get him back on his feet.  Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.
 
Nancy
[Posted in FML issue 5340]