I didn't catch the original message that brought this up, and I'm not
sure that I can add anything at all to what was asked or commented about.
Except to say I have two older ferrets that have been "diagnosed" with
inflammatory bowel disease.  A change in diet was suggested, away from
chicken-based foods, not that the vet thought it would help necessarily but
it couldn't hurt.  They eat duck & potato cat food now, but generally I
would guess a change in diet wasn't very helpful.  Their vet basically
called it an auto-immune disease, and to that end they were both put on
immuram.  Their vet is investigating if there is any connection between
undiagnosed/untreated inflammatory bowel disease and lymphoma.
 
Neither of these ferrets ever had ECE, as far as a connection between that
and inflammatory bowel disease.  Zooey has had a history of not dealing
with environmental stress very well and having diarrhea as a result.
 
Anyway Linus is 6 and has been on this medication for a year.  It has
improved his condition to the point where his lab tests look normal (except
for a case of hepatitis).  Zooey was 6 years and 10 months old, and was on
the medication for 9 months.  She was much worse off than Linus, and
recently succumbed to her intestinal problems.  The meds, for her,
controlled her problem but didn't improve it.  She died this Monday,
October 30th.  It was a struggle for her to let go.  Very very hard for
me to watch, I've had her for 5 1/2 years.
 
Maybe that might help whoever asked about inflammatory bowel disease, and
maybe it won't.  but it's a touchy subject for me so please don't tell me
neither I nor the vet knew what we were dealing with.  Their vet is
actually quite knowledgable about ferrets.
 
Minta
 & Linus and Zooey
[Posted in FML issue 3224]