To Valerie Darling:
 
>My male, age six months, is very ill. Sunday 8/6 I found a puddle of blood,
>mixed with a clear, mucus-y liquid on our bathroom floor.
 
    Valerie - the two most common problems which may result in strainng and
producing blood mixed with the stool are gastrointestinal foreign bodies
and proliferative colitis.
 
    I always suspect a foeign body first in such a young ferret.  They can
do a lot of damage as they pass through.  Even the best ferret-proofed house
will yield a foreign body or two if the ferret is diligent enough.  I would
suggest some radiographs, a barium series, and careful palpation to look for
this.  And if the tests are negative, it still doesn't rule it out.
 
    Proliferative colitis is a disease caused by a bacteria called
Desulfovibrio which is seen in young male ferrets.  It is also characterized
by frequent small painful bloody stools.  The only way to diagnose it is to
do a colonic biopsy.  Your vet may want to try this, followed by several
weeks on Chloramphenicol, or until a negative pathology report comes back on
the sample.
 
    Proliferative colitis is not really a totally curable disease, though.
Good management will lessen preiodic stress-related occurrences and give an
affected ferret a reasonably comfortable life.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
Dept. of Vet Path, AFIP
[log in to unmask]  OR
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1285]