To Diane Emery:
 
>Tuesday two violent diahrea episodes (with one solid poop in between,
>somewhat small and dark) Wed.  and Thur no diarhea but his poop is small
>and almost black.
 
Diane -
 
Black stools do mean blood - they may have a foul odor, also.  When blood is
digested, it turns black.  Blood in the stool could mean a gastric ulcer -
the pain caused by gastric ulcers often causes the ferret to grind its
teeth.
 
The more I hear about your ferret's poop, the more I think of a foreign
body.  Even though you haven't found it, there are all sorts of things
aroung the house that they can get into - rubber doorstops, foam rubber from
couches - if it's there, you'll find it.
 
However, it often passes through.  I think I would still have him checked
out by the vet.  I have had several ferrets eat rubber or plastic and pass
it (with the help of a lot of laxatone and some time).  Intermittent
explosive diarrhea and some black stools were seen in all three of the
animals which successfully passed the material.
 
Here's a game plan - let's give him 1 inch of Laxatone or Petromalt twice
daily and schedule a vet visit.  If he starts to look really bad, goes off
his food, starts vomiting, or shows sign of pain in his abdomen - grinds
teeth, fliches when you gently squeeze his abdomen - get in there right away
on an emergency basis.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP              Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
Dept. of Veterinary Pathology               [log in to unmask]
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1437]