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Post by billseeds on Jul 7, 2012 16:52:37 GMT -5
My 2 year old hob has had a rough few months. During the shedding season he had major clogs which were remedied by laxing. He was vomiting regularly and his stool was small. He lost a significant amount of weight. We hand fed him soft and dry ultimate with ferrettone. We try to bring them( we have a 1,1/2 yr old sal whos healthy) outside every day for some exercise and sunlight which seemed to help. He regained much of his weight but is still vomiting. His stool is inconsistent in size, but there is no blood or abnormal objects.
We brought him to the vet last week and ran a blood test. The vet we brought him to was recommended by the AFA and was extremely knowledgeable. There was nothing alarming about the blood test. His movements are limited and he seems lethargic.
Im worried he might have IBD, but since the initial blood tests havent concluded anything strange I am unsure. We have another appointment scheduled for the beginning of August. Maybe im just worrying too much since he seems to be getting better, but the vomiting is still unusual. Maybe I should get an x-ray done? Radiation doesnt sit well with me and thats why i declined it.
If anyone has any past experiences with these symptoms I would be most appreciated for your guidance.
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Post by Sherry on Jul 7, 2012 17:16:39 GMT -5
The only way to know for sure if he still has a floating blockage in there is by xray. And his symptoms point to that, amongst other possibilities. Frankly I'd do that just to rule it out.
IBD is not diagnoseable via blood work. Only a biopsy can tell you that 100%. My vet goes on symptoms. The problem with kibble fed ferrets is that since they are always so close to the edge of dehydration, any vomiting or diarrhea should be taken as very alarming. They can spiral downhill so rapidly once they are dehydrated.
How often is he vomiting now? How much is coming up, and how long does it last?
Can you get some pure pumpkin? Not the pie filling, but canned pumpkin. That's the only thing that will be on the ingredient list. If he'll take it I'd give 1/2 tsp of that daily instead of the lax, since petroleum products can inhibit nutrient absorption. And if he's IBD he's not absorbing enough nutrients as it is.
What ever it is, something is definitely wrong. If it IS IBD, it can be brought under control in most cases with a course of prednisolone and diet change. The two biggest culprits there are chicken and grains. So you'd have to eliminate both of those with the diet.
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Post by billseeds on Jul 8, 2012 2:01:58 GMT -5
He vomits maybe once a day, and it is always water with some dissolved kibble. Nothing solid. He hasn't vomited today and i've been around him all day, and watched him eat from the bowl.
I've read about pumpkin on another thread on this forum but havent tried it yet. Tomorrow I will get some from the store and try that out but he's really finicky.
As for the x-ray, i will reschedule an appointment for this week.
From what i've read about pred its pretty effective. If the vet does find a blockage or an irritated tract then im sure she will recommend it.
So would you recommend not feeding ferrets raw chicken? We are extremely interested in a raw diet, but due to his illness have put it on the backburner. Ive owned a few ferrets as a kid, but never even thought of feeding them raw meat until I found this forum a few months ago. I'll peruse the raw diet threads and get some more info.
I really appreciate the feedback. Sampson appreciates it too. Thank you so much!
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Post by Heather on Jul 8, 2012 2:17:10 GMT -5
I think I mentioned in your intro thread that if you go the xray route to request a barium series. This will help a lot in being able to tell where the problem is. If it's a blockage they will be able to see it...straight xrays for this type of thing can sometimes look inconclusive and leave you with unanswered questions (it could be a blockage, could be an ulcer....it all shows up as a dark, blurry "spots" on the xray) IBD can only be truly diagnosed with a biopsy but many vets are comfortable making the diagnosis by symptoms.
Just because a ferret shows sensitivities to chicken kibbles doesn't mean that they will have problems with raw chicken. I would wait to see what you find through your vet's investigation before drawing any conclusions diet wise. It could be some additive that's in your kibbles that is causing the issue. There are so many vague and unnecessary components and additives in kibbles that could be causing this. I had a cat that vomited daily. He was slowly starving to death. I managed to switch him to raw and discovered that he was allergic to all hooved animals. I was only able to determine this after him being placed on raw because then I could use one item and rule it out as an allergen. While on kibbles there were too many components to really do this type of elimination diet.
Good luck, please keep us posted as to your wee boy's progress
ciao
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Post by billseeds on Jul 8, 2012 3:24:22 GMT -5
ok thank you, i'll do some research on the barium series. we'll def keep ya updated
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Post by Sherry on Jul 8, 2012 9:18:23 GMT -5
The reason for a barium xray is if it's a bit of foam that he's ingested, sometimes even fur- all that will show on the regular one is a build up of gas at some point in the digestive tract. With the barium they follow it as it goes through their system and when it stops, that's where the blockage is. Barium xrays have also been known to actually push a partial blockage completely out.
Like Heather said, this would be the first step in the investigation. Once this is ruled out(if it is), then you can start looking at dietary and/or environmental causes.
One of our cats also used to throw up several times a week while on kibble. While he's not on raw(he's got colitis, is quite elderly, and doesn't tolerate it easily), he IS on a very good quality canned. Whatever was in kibble that caused him to vomit went completely away on the grain free wet.
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Post by billseeds on Jul 11, 2012 22:53:37 GMT -5
force fed pumpkin, he seems to hate it thoroughly
hopefully in the next day or so we will see if there is any change
going to purchase carnivore care and a wet grain free cat food...not sure which on yet...suggestions are welcome...
tail hair has grown back tho
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Post by Sherry on Jul 12, 2012 8:03:47 GMT -5
Did you try mixing the pumpkin with a bit of oil and warming it slightly? And have you had a barium series done on him yet, or has the vomitting stopped?
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Post by billseeds on Jul 12, 2012 23:57:53 GMT -5
no but now he likes it and will eat it out of my hand (the pumpkin)
he hasnt thrown up today and has been really active, more than the past week...
bought carn care, fed him some with a syringe and he seems to like it
the xray will be kind of expensive and i wont have enough money til after this weekend, but we have an appointment for monday
guna keep feedn him the carn care and pumpkin til then
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Post by Heather on Jul 13, 2012 0:23:04 GMT -5
Good luck, fingers crossed for your little one
ciao
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Post by Sherry on Jul 13, 2012 8:58:42 GMT -5
I'm glad He's not fighting the pumpkin anymore! Fingers crossed everything will be fine.
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Post by billseeds on Jul 17, 2012 16:24:55 GMT -5
Yesterday, took sampson to get the barium series.
The x-rays did not reveal any blockages or anything strange whatsoever. He weighed in at a robust 1.75 pounds...which is well above what he was 3 weeks ago.
Maybe the pumpkin already pushed it out? He hasn't vomitted in a couple of days.
The vet was impressed with all the knowledge you guys gave me...i even told her about this website and forum just in case she was ever interested.
But anyways, we brought him home and he went to town on some kibble...he must have eaten 4 tablespoons to himself, which is quite substantial as opposed to what he was eating before.
Hopefully whatever was wrong with him is over.
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Post by Sherry on Jul 17, 2012 16:26:28 GMT -5
Thanks for the update! And yes- it's possible if there was any sort of blockage the pumpkin pushed it through. Whatever, I'm glad he's doing so much better  |
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Post by Heather on Jul 17, 2012 21:21:54 GMT -5
I'm so glad that you found nothing. Perhaps, the pumpkin did push whatever was causing the issue through. I hope that you continue to see progress  ciao |
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Post by billseeds on Jul 20, 2012 16:53:20 GMT -5
Well he is gaining some weight back thanks to the carn care but he vomits/ dry heaves after i feed him sometimes.
He was dry heaving for 5 minutes after i fed him today, and then he went into the cage and hid. Im not sure what else I can do for him.
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