Severe diarrhea

[Deleted]

Jeepers is very sick with severe diarrhea. He poops every 2.5hours. It looks like his BM's have a large amount of water as well. The color is now yellow sometimes with mucous, but was greenish at the beginning. He also vomited a little when symptoms first appeared. He doesn't vomit currently.

He went to a vet on Thursday and vet decided it is ECE because of the addition of new kits. I was told to force feed him Pedialite and food and give Zantac (renitidine) and Peptobismol and give him a call in 5-7 days. Jeepers also got an injection of vitamin B12 and Maxeran.


He does eat small amounts of food with convincing, but it has to be wet freeze dried chicken, or reconstituted freeze dried.

He doesn't drink very much on his own. I do force feed him Pedialite from syringe but now he is extremely resistant. He is shaking his head, squeaking, spitting, scratching and gagging if I keep forcing. I simply cannot hold on to him. It wasn't as bad at the beginning as I was able to force feed considerable amounts but now he goes crazy when there is a syringe. He also hates Rinitidine and starts gagging and pawing at his mouth every time I give it. Pepto is similar but not as bad. My tricks with oil and such don't work anymore.

I'm concerned because I'm not sure how to keep forcing meds and pedialite. Also, I'm working night shift (12hr) today and there is no one home to feed him at night.

Any suggestions would be helpful!

[Sherry]

It sounds like he may need subq injections for rehydration. How are his gums? Are they nice and pink, or are they whitish and tacky?
Try warming the FD soup. It may be more palatable that way.
I'd not be forcing him to drink the pedialyte at the moment. It's going to make him more stressed and take the ECE longer to resolve. He may actually need to stay at the vet's for a couple of days on IV therapy until the worst is over.

[Deleted]

I hope that he feels better soon!

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2013 16:55:56 GMT -5 Sherry said:

It sounds like he may need subq injections for rehydration. How are his gums? Are they nice and pink, or are they whitish and tacky?
Try warming the FD soup. It may be more palatable that way.
I'd not be forcing him to drink the pedialyte at the moment. It's going to make him more stressed and take the ECE longer to resolve. He may actually need to stay at the vet's for a couple of days on IV therapy until the worst is over.

His gums are OK. He surprisingly active for his condition so I'm suspecting he might be eating and drinking at least some. He does look better behavior-wise but his poop looks awful.
 
I don't really want him to stay at vet unless absolutely necessary, because he really doesn't like changing settings. This would make him extremely stressed. I transferred him to the bathroom and will keep him there overnight. This would allow him to have a good access to food and water without being stressed by others.

I only gave him his Pepto. It was extremely hard as he is super resistant. I didn't force Pedialite this time. I don't even think I could manage.

He does eat his reconstituted freeze dried with extra water. So I will just leave that, and some kibble overnight just in case. I will see how he does in the bathroom and if he isn't better by the time I'm back, he will go to a vet.
Other ferrets have some mucous in poop too, but they are great otherwise.

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2013 17:04:19 GMT -5 @libs said:

I hope that he feels better soon!

Thanks :-)

[Sherry]

He does sound hydrated enough then So a couple overnighters likely aren't necessary. Or even subq's at the moment. Will he take the pedialyte on it's own in a small dish? And it is going to be a while before his stools are any good. For now all you can do is keep offering fresh FD rehydrated.

[Heather]

Here try this, I've found that my guys hate the pedialyte and fight me horribly, to the point of making themselves sick. Now, I know some people can get their guys to take this stuff but my sickies hate it. I use this recipe and it works:
2 liters of water
1 tbsp of honey
1/2 tsp of sea salt
boil the water to dissolve...now, I don't use water I used chicken broth (not the gravy stuff boiled chicken). My guys eat this on their own and even my sickest ferrets (IBD and lymphoma). After a couple of tastes, my guys will actually lick this out of the bowl or off a spoon.

ciao

[Deleted]

Sept 22, 2013 17:23:06 GMT -5 Heather said:

Here try this, I've found that my guys hate the pedialyte and fight me horribly, to the point of making themselves sick. Now, I know some people can get their guys to take this stuff but my sickies hate it. I use this recipe and it works:
2 liters of water
1 tbsp of honey
1/2 tsp of sea salt
boil the water to dissolve...now, I don't use water I used chicken broth (not the gravy stuff boiled chicken). My guys eat this on their own and even my sickest ferrets (IBD and lymphoma). After a couple of tastes, my guys will actually lick this out of the bowl or off a spoon.

ciao

Heather, thank you for the recipe. Using chicken broth is a great idea! I will try this next time.

The morning after my post I came home to find Jeepers eating his kibble and drinking water. Half of his poops we formed, but grainy. He is currently eating well and his poops are formed. Still grainy, but I know this is normal for a while.
I will start giving him his freeze dried with raw again and hope he'll gain his weight back soon.

[Sherry]

I'm so glad he seems to have turned a corner