Grendel, our youngest ferret and an unneutered male, had blood in his stools
tonight.  [I was curled up in bed reading and all ready to go to sleep when
Kirk calls me into the bathroom to see a bloody stool on the floor.  I think
I almost had a heart attack.] We took him in to an emergency clinic and took
the bloody stool with us.  They checked it and didn't see any parasites in
it, but took his temperature and discovered he has a fever (104.2).  He is
also very tender around his bladder and the vet was unable to express any
urine.  He was given a shot of Baytril and a bit of Maalox to coat the
intestines and we were told to go home and see our vet tomorrow.
 
WE're taking Grendel in as soon as possible tomorrow to see Dr. Bock.  I'm
a little nervous about leaving him all night without knowing what is wrong,
but I was also a little nervous about the vet, considering halfway through
the exam he asks "So what do you feed these guys anyway, cat food?"
 
And of course, Grendel has to get sick two days after my lutino cockatiel,
Summer, dies.  We just spent $75 on him for necropsy and pathology work
trying to figure out why he died, and just dropped another $70 on
emergency care for Grendel, not to mention whatever will happen tomorrow.
It never rains but it pours, I guess.  Good thing I love them all so much.
 
Michelle
 
--
Meet my pets.  The ferrets (Taz, Coffee, Daphne, Tia, Gretchen and Grendel),
the gerbils (31 permanent residents and various babies), the zebra mouse
(Racer), the rats (Timmy, Sue, Princess, Brownie and Perrin), the budgie
(Sky), the cockatiel (Snow), and the fish (various).  RIP Honey and Summer.
[Posted in FML issue 1308]