a reply to the 'wasting disease/Greenies' post.. Hi Everybody.. There is a couple ways to diagnose Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis.. the first is to do a 'gram stain' of the feces and look for cells groups of round cells that appear three to a group.. any of these in the feces of a ferret would indicate a further test be done.. it is normal for a ferret to have 3-5 of these little cell groupings in a blood sample.. but a number like 35 means very active Eso. the third is to do an exploratory.. if the mesenteric node in the center of the J shaped stomic is enlarged [3 plus times normal] you have Eso.. and a short course of Pred. is the med of choice [in my experience]. Eso is an intracellular condition and as such is present in all ferrets. The trigger that sets off a flare of these cells is suspected to be dry food with little or no water.. BUT that is only a suspicion not a confirmed fact.. Eso can be trriggered by a stressed gasto-intestinal tract.. the streaked green usually in a mucus dominant stool also can be PBD [proliferative bowel disease] another intracellulular disease that takes chloramphenicol to shut it down.. and these two can be set off by Helicobacter [dark tarry stools]..[which can be present but dormant unless something sets it off.. and it is being found in a large percentage of ferrets these day] which is corrected with Biaxin usually... so any ferret can have these do a domino effect launch of all of them at once in one over stressed ferret.. Dandy huh?.. and ECE can stress the digestive tract and kick them all off requiring you do the 'support and wait it out' treatment while using an antibiotic to help with any other side infectons the ferret may have due to stressing the whole system. .. All of these can thin a ferret down in a very short time.. all are called 'wasting diseases' ... Each of these diseases has at least one symptom unique to it alone.. [the enlarged mesenteric node for Eosinophilic for instance which requires an exploratory to verify since the darn cell groups can vanish if the disease eases off for a while].. Then when all else fails there is the gastric ulcer.. which can accompany more than one of the above or occur alone.. The book Ferrets, Rabbit, and Rodents has an excellent section of this multifaceted situation in ferrets.. and it has an excellent diagnostic chart as well as the meds for each disease including dosages.. If anyone ever needed a reason to get a ferret med text this catagory of ferret diseases is the best reason I know of.. You will need your vet, absolutely! But it lets you begin to review the symptoms and get a pretty good idea what you are dealing with.. one of them at a time as one can mask another.. all of these can be defeated! it takes patience and close attention to detail.. but it CAN be done. I have been through this with several rescue ferrets [a good reason to quarantine new intakes until at least two consecutive fecal slides show totally clear of any problems] and all lived to dook and steal remotes for years after their battle with these nasty customers .. :) It takes a good ferret vet and time to find all the problems and treat them whether one of these diseases or several.. I spend a lot of time reading and rereading anatomy and disease related articles, and keep copies in my bookcase and notebooks.. It helps a lot to know what and why when helping a little one.. at least for me.. FWIW dayna and the woozles of the MMOMM rescue/shelter [Posted in FML issue 2158]