MY FERRET NEEDS HELP!!!
 
My ferret, Aboo, has been sporadically ill since June and my vet has been
unable to figure out what is causing these incidents.  Here is a month by
month incident report.
 
* Back in June Aboo was very lethargic and kept licking his lips and
swallowing and didn't appear to be eating.  His stools were black/green and
very slimy.  I brought him to the vet, he had some x-rays and they came back
normal.  He was released and the vet said it was gastric.
 
* In the month of August he had two incidents.  The first one was an upper
respiratory infection in which he had a temp. of 105 and needed to be force
fed water.  He also had diarrhea.  He was on medication and Kaopectate.  He
was also quarantined from the other ferret for a week.  Then a few weeks
later he vomited several times when no one was home.  I then tried to give
him some water (concerned about dehydration) and within minutes he was
vomiting the water.  He was rushed to an emergency vet (his normal vet was
closed).  There they took x-rays and found no foreign bodies.  They kept him
over night, and reported to his usual vet that he had urinated and had some
bloody stool.  He was then sent to his usual vet the next morning.  He was
diagnosed with gastroententies (not sure if correct spelling) and was given
peptobismal 1ml 3xs daily, sucrafate 0.1 cc by mouth 2xs daily for 7 days,
TMP-S (or 5??) 0.4 cc 2xs daily for 7 days.
 
* Then on December 29 (Mon) Aboo's stools were black/green and very slimy.
He was also very lethargic.  Again he was licking his lips and swallowing
frequently.  He was brought to the vet and stayed over night.  His x-rays
showed no foreign bodies.  He was given TMP-S(5??) and sucralfate.  Tuesday,
on the way home from the vet Aboo started making coughing sounds.  When he
arrived home he had severe bloody diarrhea and was rushed back to the vet's.
Aboo remained in the vet for 7 days.  There he had fluid therapy and
injections of antibiotics.  On either Friday he was force fed some solid
food and kept it down.  On Tuesday he was released.
 
* April 16 (Friday) Vomit with little pieces of food and traces of blood
were discovered.  His stools were black/green and very slimy.  Once again I
tried giving him some water and he began vomiting within minutes.  He was
rushed to the vet (and had diarrhea in his carrier) and was immediately
given fluid therapy and an antibiotic injection.  He is still in the
hospital and as of now, he still has slight traces of diarrhea but is very
bright eyed and active.  The vet would like to keep him another day or so
just to prevent a repeat of the last time he was there, in Dec.
 
My vet is wonderful, and saved Aboo from near death back in December so
please don't think I feel she is in any way acting incompetent.  No one at
the office really knows what is wrong with him and it's frustrating to think
that this may, and probably will happen to him again.  Any impute that you
may have to offer would be greatly appreciated.  It just makes me really
upset to see this little guy go through these cycles of vomiting.  I
apologize if my spelling is incorrect on some of the technical terms but I
only have carbon copies of his records and they are difficult to read.
 
Aboo is 2 years old.  He is a Marshal Farm ferret and is a black sable.  He
has a companion that we believe is from the same litter and has never (knock
on wood) had a sick day in his life.
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this long but crucially important
letter and for you response.
 
Kari and Aboo
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[Posted in FML issue 2283]