Dear Craig:
 
>This morning our oldest sweetest boy Quazi began to violently vomit
>blood, and after calling the only emergency vet available, her first
>response was that it was possibly parvovirus.  Quazi had loose, runny
>stool for a couple of days, but had enjoyed grapes recently, so we
>thought it was a result of that.  ,,,,Though his stools at home are
>normal, when she took his temperature, he passed black/green 'tarry'
>stool.  Quazi is almost 1 year old, has had his shots and was desexed
>in August.  It is unknown if he had any shots prior to him adopting us.
>The vet did say that sometimes the vaccines don't always take....
 
Vomiting whole blood and passing dark tarry stools indicates severe blood
accumulation in at least the stomach, and possibly other parts of the GI
tracts.  Red blood being vomited can only come from the stomach, and if
it stays in there any length of time, it is digested and turns black.
 
Now the 2 most common causes of blood in the stomach, are gastric ulcers
and shock.  With bleeding ulcers, you most commonly get tarry stools, but
if there is a rapid bleed in the stomach, the animal may actually vomit
blood.  This is an indication of a relatively severe ulcer which should
be treated aggressively - truly a life-threatening condition.
 
The second possibility is shock.  In shock in ferrets, blood tends to pool
all over the body, and preferentially pools in the GI tract.  As it sits
there, it tends to leak out into the lumen of the GI tract, and is passed
as bright red blood from either end at the first opportunity.
 
Here is where I would go.  It's difficult to pinpoint the cause of shock -
as you are in Australia - I would look at envirnonmental temperature -
could he have gotten overheated?  We are certainly not dealing with
parvovirus - dogs suffer from hemorrhagic enteritis due to parvovirus, but
ferrets don't.  Look for the other characteristic sign of gastric ulcers -
grinding teeth.  This can help to identify an ulcer as the cause of the
bleeding.  Blood work to find out if we are now dealing with significant
anemia as a complication would be helpful.
 
I'd go ahead and treat for ulcers at this point - it can't hurt, and
certainly can help.  A bland diet, carafate at 75 mg/lb 10 minutes prior
to meals, and relief from stress is warranted.  More information on gastric
ulcers can be found at my web site at http://www.afip.org/ferrets
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3263]