Dear Laura:
 
>I have a question for those of you with ferrets who live without their
>spleen.  Panda had to have his removed last spring and has been doing
>really well except for one problem.  He never was able to go back to solid
>food.  He would vomit every time.  Panda's digestive system has seemed
>delicate even on his mush.  Every once in a while, he will vomit---this
>has been common for him since spring.  But he has done so well and has
>come back from 29 ounces when we didn't think he would make it, to a
>whopping 48 ounces.  The last several days, though, he has been vomiting
>more than usual.  If you have experience with this, would you email me?
 
The most common cause of splenomegaly is chronic inflammation of the GI
tract, usually Helicobacter mustelae.  While I wouldn't want to make any
definitive diagnoses here, you very well may have treated one of the
symptoms, but missed the primary problem.  The fact that he has actually
gained weight makes it a bit more likely that he has gastric helicobacter
than inflammatory disease of the intestine.
 
I wouldn't want to rule out a gastric foreign body at this point, either.
 
Possibilities here would be to try a course of antibacterial therapy for
Helicobacter, or do an abdominal exploratory with biopsy of the stomach
and intestine.
 
Chronic vomiting is not a problem that you should ignore - its is generally
a symptom of a disease that needs to be closely examined.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3317]