Hi all..
I don't know whether any of you remember me talking about jake a few weeks
back.  Well, he's been in and out of the hospital, the last stay was 10
days, trying to keep his fever down, it was 106!  Right now he is home.
He's on 2 antbiotics, baytril and chloro, carafate, and he's being force
fed chicken baby food, 24cc's, every 4 hours.  He's been home since
Thursday, his temp is hovering around 103, 104, with out the meds to keep
it down.  He's depressed, sleeps all the time, has lost an enormous amount
of mass, (we can feel his spine).  The doctors dont know for sure what his
problem is.  He grinds when we feed him, so we know he's ulcerated
somewhere, stomach for sure..  but perhaps his esoph.  because he grinds
almost right away when we start to feed him.  He is wobbley when he walks,
sometimes his hind legs follow him, sometimes they walk off in a different
direction.
 
How did it start?
 
He's been sick since Feb 12th..  with symptoms starting out as lethargy
and some weight loss.  We were hand feeding him without a problem, bowel
movements were fine..  he was on amoxi and the vets decided after a
sonogram, that he might have lympho, (enlarged mesenteric nodes, but NOT
peripheral nodes) so they put him on prednisone.  Well, 3 days or so after
the pred he starting grinding, and another day later, develpoed a fever and
started throwing up.  He started having runny stools, with some green, but
not foul smelling, and it seems he started going downhill from there.  He
was hospitalized, put on fever reducing meds, and stronger antibiotics.
He was being force fed.
 
So now, he's home, after his temp being stabilized without drugs, and he's
pitiful.  My poor alpha boy, he's a ghost now compared to what he was.  My
question (sorry it took so long to get to it)..  is that, for all we are
feeding him, (1/2 jar or 24cc baby food every 4 hrs), his poops are *very*
small, soft, with a touch of slime to them.  He is pooping about 4 times an
hour.  Where is all the food going?  What is are the mechanics of digestion
at this point, in his condition?  Does anyone think that lympho is causing
this..  has anyone had a ferret with lympho that this has happened to them?
If this is helicobactor, or campylobacter, or ECE... how long does it take
to see an improvement?  The vets can't put their finger on it.  They are
treating him for what they believe is campylobacter (sp) but they've run no
tests.  They say there is none.  Is this accurate?.  What about the ulcers?
Has anyone had a ferret with an ulcer that has healed?  How long did it
take?  What was the treatment?  Sorry for so many questions.  <sigh>
 
Thanks.
 
-Celia
[Posted in FML issue 2616]