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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2014 13:35:40 GMT -5
My ferret Bentley, who has insulinoma, grinds his teeth so much when he's eating. I know it means that he's having some sort of stomach pain and I'll be bringing him to the vet tomorrow. I just wanted to know if anyone has any ideas on what I can do for him. Right now he's eating half soaked kibble, half soup. I feel so bad when I see him eating like that
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2014 16:10:08 GMT -5
Since no one else has replied, I am going to take a stab at it and say that it could be bacteria over growth from the kibble raw combo if you are feeding them too close together. I don't have any other suggestions except take him to a vet, which you are already doing.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2014 17:25:48 GMT -5
Are you feeding raw soup and kibble together? Stop that, it can cause bacterial growth like nixxie said. You have to wait a couple hours after feeding kibble before you feed raw.
My Neichei was insulinomic, and when she started grinding her teeth and having diarrhea my Vet put her on carafate, she had gastric ulcers. She was on that for several months until she passed, she had to take it but it calmed her stomach pain and helped a lot.
Not saying Bentley has this, that's just what happened with mine. He could have bacterial overgrowth, what does his poop smell like? Ferrets with that have poops that smell rancid, just terribly stinky.
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Post by Heather on Oct 13, 2014 18:03:23 GMT -5
You're probably dealing with an ulcer. Where it's located will be up to the vet to find. It could be in his mouth, throat or it could be a gastric ulcer of some sort. Another thing it could be is nausea. This could be caused by waiting too long between meals (this isn't uncommon in insulinoma ferrets). It could also be the soupy mixture of kibbles and meats (if that's what you're doing).
What is the regime you're using to treat his insulinoma? For the times that I've had to use pred, I always use sulcrafate (carafate if you're in the US) 45 minutes to an hour before medicating (to buffer their digestive tract from the pred), I also feed a minimum of 1 tbsp of their soupy and then give them their dosage of pred. This helps protect them from getting ulcers from their pred.
Please keep us posted as to the outcome of your vet visit. Good luck
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2014 19:48:08 GMT -5
You're probably dealing with an ulcer. Where it's located will be up to the vet to find. It could be in his mouth, throat or it could be a gastric ulcer of some sort. Another thing it could be is nausea. This could be caused by waiting too long between meals (this isn't uncommon in insulinoma ferrets). It could also be the soupy mixture of kibbles and meats (if that's what you're doing). What is the regime you're using to treat his insulinoma? For the times that I've had to use pred, I always use sulcrafate (carafate if you're in the US) 45 minutes to an hour before medicating (to buffer their digestive tract from the pred), I also feed a minimum of 1 tbsp of their soupy and then give them their dosage of pred. This helps protect them from getting ulcers from their pred. Please keep us posted as to the outcome of your vet visit. Good luck ciao I was thinking an ulcer as well. He only just started eating raw yesterday and he's been doing the grinding for at least a week now. He'll be starting on pred once it comes in (we have to order the liquid). Right now I've just been feeding him science diet a/d canned food every two hours to keep his glucose up and help him gain weight. I'll mention the carafate to the vet when I go too. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2014 23:49:05 GMT -5
I finally was able to bring him to the vet today. Apparently the prednisone was never ordered because the vet told one of the techs to order it for Franklin, who passed away six months ago. They had a little that they gave me though. Its 20 mg/mL, and I'll be giving him .1 mL once a day.
The vet thinks he just has an upset stomach from the insulinoma. His bg was too low for the meter to read when he tested it, which is what I got on my meter a week ago too. This is almost the exact same thing I went through with my Frankie exactly two years ago, so we're hoping the same treatment will help Bentley too
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Post by Heather on Oct 18, 2014 12:04:04 GMT -5
Are you using pediapred, predinisolone or prednisone? Knowing and using the right one will also help your little one
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2014 12:26:12 GMT -5
I agree with Heather. Prednisone is hard on ferrets and their stomach, predisolone is better and easier on the liver. Most pediapred actually is prednisolone, just isn't as nasty. A lot of Vets won't give actual prednisone for ferrets with a long-term treatment.
You wanna make sure you feed him before he takes his medicine, to coat the stomach.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2014 12:55:30 GMT -5
The vet gave me prednisone to use until the liquid prednisolone comes in, which should only take 2 or 3 weeks.
I've been giving him about a half an ounce of soup before I give it to him
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2014 3:04:53 GMT -5
Where is the research that speaks to the interval between feeding kibble and raw to prevent bacterial overgrowth? I don't mean to sound skeptical, but I want to read up on it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2014 14:35:56 GMT -5
I did a search on google and found that people advocate feeding raw separate from kibble because of different digestion times for these two types of food. This can potentially cause problems such as bacterial overgrowth as kibble is digested slower than raw which results in the raw staying in the body for longer than it should. Or it causes digestive confusion because the body doesn't know when to secrete certain enzymes because the foods are going through the digestive system at different rates. Not every ferrent who has mixed raw and kibble reports digestive distress or bacterial overgrowth. For the most part, this has been an observation learned from different ferrents experiences. And again experience has taught ferrents how long to separate kibble from raw based on their own observations with their own ferrets. Here are several links to information from Veterinary specialists who discuss Bacterial Overgrowths: northwestexoticpetvet.com/?page_id=207www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=3346It's difficult to find studies on ferrets. It's easy to find studies about Dogs and Cats. Since felines are closer to ferrets than canines, you can look for further info about the observations on cats and bacterial overgrowths. The big problem is that a bacterial overgrowth may lead to a Taurine deficiency in addition to dehydration and other smaller issues. We know how important Taurine is to ferrets, and how dehabilitating dehydration is to all animals. Don't ever worry about asking questions. We all learn a little something every time that someone asks a question. The final answer really is that there is nothing set in stone, and only by trial and error will you learn exactly how long your little one needs their kibble and raw separated. A vet visit and a course of antibiotics clear up a bacterial overgrowth and that's expensive and hard on the ferret. So, we generally advise at least two hours to be on the safe side and since we are a Holistic Forum, we prefer to stay on the safe side and advise Ferrents to stay with a natural diet.  |
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