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Post by hails on Apr 23, 2011 21:22:56 GMT -5
I was brushing my girl Baby the other day and noticed that her stomach felt...harder than it does with my two boys. She's about 1.5 years old, is a DEW, a Marshall's ferret, and small (about 1.8 pounds.) I've always been able to feel her spine and hip bones and it just seems odd that her tummy would be pudgy compared to the rest of her.
I don't notice any teeth-grinding or mouth-pawing and she's active, eats well, and poops like it's going out of style. Poking her tummy doesn't seem to bother outside of her usual 'let me down right now or you will pay.' It feels tight like how my dog's stomach does and my dog had a c-section. Could it be from Baby being spayed?
I'll post pictures of her stomach if they'd help. I hear that large spleens are rather common in ferrets but don't usually require surgery unless it's cancer. But if it was cancer, wouldn't she be lethargic and ill? I also don't think it's a blockage but I've been giving her Petromalt just in case.
Going to a vet isn't really in the budget since my mother has become ill and doctors' fees are piling up. I'd rather get thoughts from more experienced owners before spending money we don't have.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2011 21:27:29 GMT -5
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Post by Heather on Apr 23, 2011 21:29:38 GMT -5
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Post by Sherry on Apr 23, 2011 22:09:14 GMT -5
Could she have tensed up, and her stomach muscles were much firmer as a result? If she's having any sort of tummy upset she'll do that as well.
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Post by hails on Apr 23, 2011 23:18:41 GMT -5
I squished her again while she was taking a nap and it didn't feel as firm. Maybe she's just a little stopped up and the Petromalt is moving things along? I swear these ferrets are put on Earth to make us worry half the time only to make it up by being adorable the other half.
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Post by Sherry on Apr 23, 2011 23:31:16 GMT -5
Something slightly off topic in a way. But can also pertain to what you felt with Baby. If Lucrezia is laying in just a certain position, you can feel a lump approx. 1" long, 1/2" wide, and about 1/4" deep. It "floats". Had us really concerned in spite of the fact she acts perfectly normal. Turned out it's a scar from her spay. Unless Lucrezia is in this certain postion, you can't feel that lump at all. What I'm getting at is depending on what they are doing, how intense they are at that moment, the "feel" of them can change drastically.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2011 2:12:22 GMT -5
Hmm, very interesting! Good to know
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Post by Heather on Apr 24, 2011 2:16:23 GMT -5
Just a word of warning to those who are busy poking and proding their fuzzes to see if the spleen is indeed enlarged. If you do have a ferret with an enlarged spleen and you poke and prod (sometimes it takes very little at all) you can cause a rupture especially if there is a carcenomas on the spleen itself. Your ferret will die before you ever get it to the vet if this does occur. ciao
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Post by trippyferret on Apr 24, 2011 20:15:30 GMT -5
One of the things I first noticed with Salem was what looked like a bruising below her rib cage. Turns out that it was her spleen that I was seeing through the skin and it was enlarged. Food for thought, lol.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Apr 24, 2011 20:35:11 GMT -5
Just a word of warning to those who are busy poking and proding their fuzzes to see if the spleen is indeed enlarged. If you do have a ferret with an enlarged spleen and you poke and prod (sometimes it takes very little at all) you can cause a rupture especially if there is a carcenomas on the spleen itself. Your ferret will die before you ever get it to the vet if this does occur. ciao True! If your ferret has an enlarged spleen you can feel it relatively easy (no need to squeeze or poke). Better to have a vet look at it. A spleen can also rupture during a vet exam while they are palpating. It has happened! They can also rupture an enlarged spleen if they fall off of furniture.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Apr 24, 2011 20:38:20 GMT -5
BTW, never squish a ferrets stomach. If you see how the vets palpate the abdomen, they don't squish, they are more like feeling around. Also, remember that if you feel a ferrets stomach after they have eaten (especially if they ate a lot) it will feel hard where their stomach is!
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Post by hails on Apr 24, 2011 21:35:26 GMT -5
Well I wasn't squishing her like a squeeky toy or anything. Mostly just feeling the hardness and then using my thumb to see if it moved or anything. I had a cat with cancer and my vet showed me how to poke it to see if it was spreading. I'm thinking it was her food passing through and that I'm a worrywort. Or maybe she's been working out, trying to get a bikini body this year!
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Post by miamiferret2 on Apr 24, 2011 22:00:55 GMT -5
Yeah if you couldn't feel it again, then I think you were prob feeling a full tummy.
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