Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2001 00:40:36 -0000
 Subject: Re: New and Prolapsed Question
 
Dear Mary:
 
Prolapsed rectums are a problem to keep up with, no doubt.
 
Prolapsed rectums are the result of straining.  Although you wouldn't think
it to be logical, but loose stools are more a cause of prolapsed rectums
than hard ones.  Only rarely are they the result of endogenous rectal
disease or anal sacs.
 
Look at it this way - to get the poop out, the rectum contracts to find
something to push against.  If it finds normal consistency stool - whoosh,
out it goes.  But if the stool is loose or watery, it just keeps pushing
and pushing, and eventually, the attachments get edematous and loose and
stretchy, and it pushes itself out.
 
Anal sacs serve little useful purpose in animals (thank god humans don't
have them.)  What they seem to do is lubricate the anus for the passage of
stool (other than in skunks where they do have a more useful purpose.)
They normally are naturally expressed when a firm stool passes over them.
But if you don't have that firm stool - the secretions build up.  Most
impacted glands are in animals with a history of abnormal defection, and
usually diarrhea.  I would surmise that the full anal glands are the result
of the loose stools, not the cause.
 
I am not a big fan of expressing anal sacs in ferrets - they are small and
may rupture compounding the problems.  If a ferret has chronic anal gland
problems, then you remove them - you don't keep crushing them between thumb
and forefinger - eventually they will break down and the secretion will be
forced out into the surrounding tissue.  For impacted glands, I recommend
either finding and curing the predisposing cause, or removing them.
 
ADV as a cause of prolapsed rectum?  In a word, no.
 
If your vet can't get a hold on the loose stools and thinks a biopsy is
in order - let's do it all at once - get the rectum, colon, intestine,
whatever in one surgery.  It may show the cause of diarrhea, which would
be nice.
 
While we don't want to use a steroid cream prior to a biopsy, a gentle
emollient like a Tuck's pad or some preparation H, or aloe vera may help
when it is protruding and raw.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM
 
Join the Ferret Health List at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
[Posted in FML issue 3349]