I read a post on the FML awhile back about a ferret with chronic
diarrhea. I'm having the same problem with one of mine. I didn't see
too many public replies and was wondering if advice was sent to this
lady privately?

My boy Manny who is also about 5 yrs old has developed chronic diarrhea
and loss of appetite. He started out at a little over 3 lbs and
gradually dropped to 11 oz (skin & bones). He's been to two different
ferret vets on several occasions. Temperature is low, dehydration,
blood tests shows nothing abnormal. He's been on antibiotics
(amoxicillin), benebac, carafate, flagyl, medrol, and albon. All of
this was supplemented with prescription canned A/D food. Each trip to
the vet gets a shot and prescription. He seems to come out of it right
after the vet visit but this only lasts for a couple days and its back
to the diarrhea and dehydration even while on his meds. The last trip
prescribed the medrol and albon. After a couple days of force feeding
he started eating on his own.

When the A/D ran out I switched him to "8in1 Crunchy Advanced Nutrition
Diet For Ferrets"(45% protein for muscle regrowth). I soaked it in
water to make sure he kept his fluids up, added FerreTone and
FerretVite to encourage eating and it seemed to work. He perked up,
regained weight up to 2.8 lbs and started to play with his five cage
mates again. That lasted about 3 weeks. He's now back to diarrhea and
not wanting to eat. He will still take FerreTone, FerretVite and water
on his own in small amounts but refuses solid food of any type,
camouflage or subterfuge. It's back to force feeding!

I've considered letting him go but I can see in his eyes that he's not
ready, he still has a lot of mischief left unaccomplished. The two
vets, one a knowledgeable ferret vet and the other a ferret specialist
also agree that he's not ready to go but can't seem to find out what's
wrong. Vet expenses are now around $1,000.

I was hoping that the vast amount of ferret knowledge, experience and
resources on the FML may be able to come up with something the vets may
have missed. If anyone has any advice or suggestions you may post or
email me privately.

Mike, w/Manny, Levi, Preston, Heidi, Shelby & Ellie

P.S. Teeth issues are not the problem and the other five cage mates
aren't showing any symptoms of similar illness. This issue has been
going on for about 4 months.

[Posted in FML 6506]