Jerri wrote
>I have, however, seen a few ferrets that my vet has diagnosed as ECE.
>I have no veterinary education, but I just disagree. We all know that
>whether it be stress, a new cagemate, ulcers, IBD, it always shows up
>in the litter pan. You can even have green in there. But if you have
>a ferret with green or yellowish mucousy poops, and they live with a
>group of other ferrets and it doesn't spread to any of them - I don't
>see how this can be ECE........or at least not the same ECE I've seen
>in the past. The kind that they'll come down with within 48 hours from
>exposure, can come & go for months and which they can be carrier of
>for a good 12 months.

Hi Jerri,

I am, of course, not a vet - but I have an experience similar -
maybe... It could be an ulcer. My baby suffered what I thought was
chronic IBS for the last 4 years(she was a really nervous ferret). She
would be fine for a few weeks (or months) and then she would have that
disgusting, smelly, mucousy green/yellow poop. Her "good poop" was
usually birdseedy. I had taken her to a vet many times and they never
had any diagnosis (except is was not ECE) - BUT my vet and I didn't
realize it was an Ulcer. She lived to be 4 1/2, her ulcer (that I
didn't know she had) ended up perforating and my vet in Fremont did
everything he could to save her.

Here are some of the signs that Baby had (though not always at the
same time): irritability,Chewing (on bedding, etc), grinding teeth
(painful), not eating (painful tummy) wasting away, and of course the
smelly gross poop

I have read that the proper treatment is antibiotics to treat the ulcer
and peptobismol and duck soup. Then they probably have to have a pretty
limited/bland diet for the rest of their life (Ferret food only - no
treats - poor baby, I would give her a treat and boom, icky smelly poop
for weeks)

PS - It is always ok to question a vet/doc. (This is coming from a
doc.) - they can make mistakes also. Maybe your vet has not experienced
a ferret with an ulcer yet (if that is what the problem is. (Baby
always had a negative poop exam and her problem was brushed off as
being nothing - I wished I had asked someone else)

Jodi

[Posted in FML 5653]