The blood test result on Peppy came back.  You may recall he is the young
ferret with the crushed skull.  Previous vet thought he had liver problems
and put him on a low protein diet.
 
Well Peppy's liver enzymes are just fine, so he can be put on a normal diet.
Good thing since he sneaks the regular food when out of his cage anyway!
Peppy is now living with Jean Caputo-Lee at Ferrets Unlimited Ferret
Shelter.  He is on a physical therapy regimen of climbing the stairs, which
seems to be doing wonders for improving his balance and coordination.  He is
adored by the other young ferrets at the shelter who love to play with him.
 
Simon, the ferret with the GI motility problem, is home from the vet.  He
is on a variety of drugs including amoxy, flagyl, carafate, and pepcid (had
reglan and tagamet while in the hospital).  The pathology report just came
back this morning and is consistent with helicobacter.  That doesn't
surprise me since we've seen it often, but it doesn't explain why his gut
just shut down.  Nor am I sure what to do next time to avoid surgery.  Will
talk to Dr. Turner about this tomorrow (it's his day off today).
 
Simon and his cagemate Chester were VERY happy to see each other again.
They kissed and groomed each other for a while before curling up to sleep
contentedly.  Simon has munched a few pieces of food on his own, and is
being supplemented with duck soup.  His system seems to be working again,
though his poops are still quite loose.  At least they are brown now.
 
So good news in both cases!
 
Linda Iroff
North Coast Ferret Shelter West
"The Raisin Retreat"
Oberlin, Ohio
http://www.oberlin.edu/~liroff/ncfs.html
[Posted in FML issue 2365]