Hi everyone!
It has been a very long time since I've posted but I do take the time each
day to read the FML.
 
I've noticed several posts lately on Inflammatory Bowel Disease in ferrets
as well as a post stating that it has been known to be a kind of cop out
diagnosis for pathologists to make when nothing else could be found wrong.
 
I recently adopted a beautiful dark silver boy from a shelter where I
volunteer.  He has a very unknown history though.  Noobie was a stray that
an animal rescue facility found in Ohio.  They contacted the shelter where
I volunteer because his time was running out there and he would be put to
sleep.
 
I went to meet the woman and pick Noobie up for them and fell in love
with this wonderful little boy instantly.
 
He went to stay at the shelter so that he could get his vaccinations and
just in case someone who may have lost him could claim him.  No one did.
Noobie came to live with me immediately!
 
I noticed when I picked Noobie up from the woman that his neck was very
swollen - I couldn't really even scruff him when I was cleaning his ears
because it was so tight.  When I asked the rescue woman if he had a name,
she'd told me she had been calling him "Droopy" because he looked like he
had droopy pants.
 
I worried about Lymphoma with him.  He wasn't eating well at all - he'd
eat a little kibble but his poops were always green and he was extremely
lethargic.
 
Many things went through my head...lymphoma was on top.  I also wondered
if he was just depressed because he lost his family - they had either let
him go or he escaped from their house somehow.  His fur was yellowed and
somewhat brittle - a sign that he probably wasn't fed the best food though.
 
Noobie's teeth place him at about 3 1/2 years old.
 
I had an appointment with Dr Weiss in Maryland for another of my ferret's
adrenal surgery.  So I scheduled Noobie to see Dr Weiss as well.  Mind you,
I am in PA, Dr Weiss is 4 hours away from me.  Noobie was examined and Dr
Weiss noticed how very lethargic he was.  After I described all his icky
poops, his lack of eating and his major lethargy, Dr Weiss said he thought
it could be inflammatory bowel disease and it could be lymphoma.
 
(Noobie literally fell asleep as Dr Weiss was examining him)  Since we
didn't know Noobie's history, Dr Weiss wanted to do bloodwork before any
kind of surgery on Noobie to be sure that he could handle it.  He did
blood tests for his intestines - and the results all came back really high.
So he went in for exploratory surgery and to do biopsies on select
tissues.
 
Dr Weiss found that his pancreas looked fine (not insolumnoma) and both of
his adrenals looked great.  Oh the irony of that one!!!  For once, a ferret
with great adrenals and no signs of tumors but there's a but... His liver
looked irregular so he took a biopsy on his liver.  His stomach wall was
extremely thick.  Dr Weiss took a biopsy on that One of Noobie's lymphnodes
(the mezonteric (sp)) looked irregular too so Dr Weiss did a biopsy on that
as well.
 
Last Monday Dr Weiss called me with the results of the biopsies: It was
not lymphoma.  Whew!  But he told me that the biopsy came back positive
for inflammatory bowel disease.  he prescribed Immuran to be given .2 ccs
once every three days.
 
I gave him his second dosage of the medication this morning.  Noobie
remains extremely lethargic.  I am still feeding him myself - he is not
eating kibble at all.  I am feeding him chicken babyfood mixed with hills
A/D via syringe.  He is not fighting me to eat - he laps it up and eats
about 40ccs at a time (3-4 X day).  His poops still look horrible though.
He remains lethargic - he sits in my lap and eats and then curls up and
falls asleep.  I try and get him to play or at least walk around - the
most he does is walk away from me and fall asleep elsewhere.  His poops
are runny and bright yellow - they look like bile and smell horrible -
like old duck soup.
 
Noobie does not appear to be loosing weight - he was fat when he came to
me and now he feels a little smaller but not noticably.
 
I know that Dr Weiss is an extremely competant doctor - which is why I
took Noobie to him - I felt that no stone would be left unturned with
finding out what was wrong with Noobie this way.
 
Is it possible though, that it could be something else?  Is it really true
that IBD is really a diagnosis for "something's wrong but we don't know
what it is"?  Do any of you have experience with IBD ferrets or with
Immuran?  If so, how long should I wait to expect results of it starting
to work?  I realize that it is still early in the game - his exploratory
surgery was on 11/27, I took his stitches out on 12/6 and began the Immuran
treatment on 12/7.
 
Any words of wisdom or advice or just stories on what you've gone through
are most welcome.  Feel free to email me privately or on the list.
([log in to unmask])
 
Thanks everyone and good dooks to all!
Lisa Shortley and Noobie
[Posted in FML issue 3263]