I posted the other day that Cassie, at age 3.5, hadn't been sick a day in
her life except briefly as a kit.  Well, no sooner did I do so than I rushed
her to the vet for what was probably nothing.
 
I noticed the other day that Cassie seemed to have a little bit of reddish
residue around her vulva.  She also had some residue around her rectum,
maybe a little reddish, or maybe it was just poop.  Later she had some
dampness on her vulva, and blotting with a white kleenex it looked like it
might be slightly pink.  The first thing that came to mind was possible
blood in her urine, maybe a urinary tract infection.  I took her to the vet
and asked for a urinalysis and fecal test.  The vet gave her these, as well
as a general exam, but everything checked out clean.  Her behavior has been
completely normal, eating, drinking, eliminating, playing and cuddling the
same as always, with two small exceptions.  Her litter training has been
slipping, after being excellent for years.  And she has sometimes been a
little squirmy when held; used to be she usually sat still pretty well.  I
had thought maybe these were some sort of reactions to Bud passing away.
One thing my vet suggested was that sometimes an active ferret (I think
Cassie qualifies :) through falls or whatever will cause a slight injury and
minor bleeding in the bladder, but that this is not serious and clears up by
itself.  But Cassie has had this residue for a few days at least, and yet
urinalysis showed no blood in the urine.  Another thing he suggested is that
excessive licking can also cause stains.
 
Anyone have any ideas? I'm certainly willing to entertain the notion that
I'm just overly paranoid after having lost Bud.
 
--
John Rosloot, Caregiver to Cassidy and Sammy
With loving memories of my dear departed Buddy
Technical analyst, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
http://www.cs.uregina.ca/~john/ferrets.html
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[Posted in FML issue 1448]