I feel guilty not have responded to your appeals, but we're not yet on the
FML network and so I've been reading the Digest through a friend.  Now
we're getting in touch and ferret owners will probably be hearing a lot
more from me that they want!  I'm not a vet, but a vet tech with a long
history of experience with ferrets, both domestic and wild (black-footed).
I also had a lot of medical training with ferrets in, of all places,
California.  The vet tech school I attended for two years had a research
permit and was therefore allowed to house ferrets and they were included in
the curriculum.  But--on to your ferret.  He sounds so similar to one we
have and all I can do is pass along our experiences and how we dealt with
the problems.  We run a shelter called Ferret Rescue of the Western States,
founded in Colorado Springs, CO in 1990 with a large group of refugee
ferrets brought from Califonia.  We later obtained this ferret in question
who was so severly bloated (distended abdomen) to be an emergency
situation.  As so often happens, our local vets were at a loss to help us
with more than an X-ray.  But it was important to know what we were dealing
with was gas rather than fluid.  And as Dr.  Williams mentioned, that's
something you must determine as well.  The case I am describing was an
accumulation of gas, but that isn't to say that you might not get results
from our treatment even if its fluid.  Since the ferret was dying, we had
to attempt our own diagnosis and treatment.  We turned to a book called
"Biology and Diseases of the Ferret", by James G.  Fox, wherein he
discribes something called 'ferret bloat syndrome'.  He admits he doesn't
know the cause, but that a particular bacteria often seemed present, so we
decided to start by treating the infection (Clostridium welchii) with which
I had had previous experience in a Siberian Polecat.  I treated for four
days with a single daily injection of penicillin G, which is about the max
you want to do with that drug, then switched to oral amoxicillin for an
additional seven days.  I had a fairly rapid, positive response, with the
softening of the abdomen, and a ferret which went from agony to a
comfortable level of distension, still slightly bloated.  At the same time
I put him on a controlled diet which I controlled by feeding him only what
I wanted him to have, consisting of small meals at appropriate intervals.
He had no access to other foods.  I used W/D, a high carbohydrate
prescription food available at your vet, but more importantly, I added a
few drops of an over-the-counter pediatric anti-gas drug called Phazyme, to
each meal.  We now maintain him in the same way and while the bloat is
always touch-and-go with him, and he has a multitude of other problems as
well, he remains comfortable.  The diet I make up is a W/D puree with
vitamins, linatone and the all- important Phazyme and fresh water is aways
available.  The food portions are quite small.  I have no idea if this will
work for you and your little guy, but if you have no other recourse, it is
probably not going to do any harm and may do some good.  As to the
prepucial tumors, preceiving that they are actually on the loose sheeth of
skin rather than the penis itself, in my experience this is not good news.
We've removed a few of these; they tend to recur and are eventually found
to be reflective of tumors you cannot see, in our case, of the liver.  I
should add, that the tumor case was not the same one as the bloat.  My
guess is that this bloating business is related to a whole lot of problems
going on in the animal, and that they aren't going to be solvable in the
long run, but what I was seeking was a fast way to get the animal out of
danger and comfortable, and that's what I settled for.  My guy is pretty
old, too, and he has a history of eating disorders--either bloating or
becoming emaciated if left to his own devices.  By presenting him with his
food on a controlled basis, both time and content, we keep him from harming
himself.
 
I'll be interested in hearing what Dr.  Williams has to say about this
protocol, too.  Perhaps he can add to or modify it for greater
effectiveness.  I do hope this will be of some help to you and welcome your
questions if I can be of further help.  Carolyn Kinsey
[Posted in FML issue 1405]