OK, I'm stumped - and we've been to the vet yesterday and will go back
again tomorrow - so this is not an inquiry in place of good medical care.
 
What I believed to be a healthy 3-yr old male ferret with a big
rolly-polly belly, took a real dive this past week - loss of appetite,
nausea, yellow mucosey runny poops - if thy were green, I'd have thought
ECE.
 
Of course, this was on a holiday weekend - so I started him on
Kayopectate to cut down on the runny poops, started with soup but he
gave me fierce opposition - hangs his head in the litter pan at the smell
of food.  Started on Clavamox and pushed oral fluids and also pushed
laxatone as I was thinking hairball.
 
Went to the vet Tuesday as I am not getting enough food or fluids into
him and his abdomen seems to be really tender.  Tood a couple of x-rays -
no sign of any kind of foreign body or of intestines irritated by a
blockage - but the entire contents of his abdomen is pushed way over to
one side.  Vet tried to tap it, thinking it would be filled with fluid,
but nothing there.  Has a large spleen - but not THAT large - it's not
the spleen pushing everything over.
 
Gave him an antibiotic injection, a good amount of sub-q fluids and
decided to keep up with supportive care until Thurdsay.
 
Last night he made a spinach green, gelatinous poop.  Now this looks like
an ECE poop - but that doesn't make any sense to me as he's been in the
house for about 4 months and had exposure to the other ferrets all that
time.  If he were gonna get it, he should have had it by now - and it
wouldn't explain the belly.
 
Completely refusing even soup - I got a whopping 3cc's of soup into him
today - did better with warm fluids - some plain water and some water
with Nutrical in it.  He's just empty.  He dragged himself to the
newspapers to potty - too weak to get into a litter pan, and made another
spinachy poop tonight - so this is 24 hrs since the last one - and he
peed, but was laying in it, which made me realize he barely has any
movement in his back legs - they're totally limp and when I pinch a toe
or a pad, he doesn't pull away.
 
Does this sound like anything at all you've ever encountered?  We do go
back to the vet tomorrow - but I just thought I'd check with you all to
see if you've ever experienced anything like this or have any thoughts.
I've got a good ferret vet - I'm just trying to think it through though -
if you don't feel or see a mass, and you don't get fluid when you try to
tap it, what's that belly filled with?
 
Not sure if he's strong enough for surgery - but I would imagine that
might be the only way to see what's going on.
 
Thanks! - and feel free to contact me directly
 
Jerri
[Posted in FML issue 4204]