I am so sorry to learn about Razzle.
 
Did he have adrenal disease, or perhaps hidden adrenal disease?  Aplastic
anemia which can be fatal, and UTIs secondary to prostate inflammation
are well documented complications for adrenal disease.  They are two of
the reasons why surgery is usually preferred for adrenal growths when it
is possible to do it.  Some ferrets have the disease hidden, though.  Our
Scooter was like that; he had no signs at all until he suddenly could not
urinate one day.  (Emergency surgery saved his life.)
 
Inability to urinate can also cause constipation.  That was the first
sign in both of our ferrets who have gotten cystine uroliths.  Of course,
there are a range of causes of constipation from foreign body ingestion,
to severe inflammation, to growths, and on.  Blood that is digested
(black or sometimes very dark green) indicates bleeding higher in the
digestive tract such as the stomach, whereas red (frank) blood indicates
a problem that is lower such as one in the colon or at the rectum.
 
In ferrets DIC (Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation) can begin at the
end of multiple types of fatal conditions.
 
I am so sorry that he, you, and your dear friend went through so much.
Doing a necropsy with pathology right away, as you indicated you are
doing, is the best logical step for learning more.
 
Please, let us all know the results when you have them.  Again, I am
sorry for your loss and suffering.
----
 
There is never a "good" time to say this, so: for those who might in
future need a necropsy done on a ferret there are some basic things which
need to be known.  The first is that some tissue need to be removed
and chemically fixed very rapidly after death (in just hours for some
tissues) or the information they hold is lost.  The second is that the
bodies should be refrigerated but should not be frozen.  Frozen is fine
for certain specific types of pathogen testing but since it destroys
cells it destroys needed pathology data.
 
Since this is a topic which is useful to about beforehand it would be
wise for people to read this past post:
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/browse.php?msg=YG10682
 
-- Sukie (not a vet)
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http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
International Ferret Congress
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 4952]