Hi Everyone:
My less than one year old ferrte, Schuyler, has just had his third
episode of bloddy diarrhea.  About 2 months ago, he had an episode where
I let him out, he was fine for 10 minutes, and then I found him gagging,
choking, and pawing at his mouth.  He then went limp and became
unresponsive.  I immediately rushed him to the only vet center who would
see a ferret on an emergency basis (his regular vet was gone for the
day).  He came to after about 15 minutes and then passed a large quantity
of bloody diarrhea.  The emergency center checked his blood which was
fine, and did an Xray which was clear.  They gave him fluids and sent him
home.  They had no idea what had happened.  He was ok overnight, had
fairly normal-looking poop.
 
We went to his regular vet the next day.  That vet said it sounded like
an anaphalactic reaction to something, possibly an insect bite.  He was
ok for the next month and then once more I found blood in his stool, but
he seemed fine otherwise.  We again went to his vet, and she put him on
metroniadazole for 2 weeks.  He seemed fine until tonight.  He was out of
the cage, I went out for about an 1.5 hours, and when I came home I found
him under a cabinet, lethargic, with bloody mucous around his tail.  I
held him and he wanted to get down so I let him, and he went to his
corner and passed another large amount of bloody mucous.
 
I will call his vet in the morning, but I am completely at a loss for why
this is happening.  I've been ridding my house of every insect I can
find, but we're certainly not overrun with spiders or any other insects.
Has anyone had this happen to them???  I have had ferrets for years and
have never seen this.  My 2 girls are exposed to all the same things,
I've had them a lot longer, and have never had anything like this happen.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.  I'm afraid that one of these
"episodes" will kill him.  They have only happened when he's been out of
the cage.
 
Thank you in advance.
Leanne O'Neil
[Posted in FML issue 5001]