On Sunday afternoon, my girl Vaida was acting a little more sluggish than normal. Since meeting her earlier this year, she's been slow and cautious and so snuggly, but something was off. She speedbumped more than normal, and refused food. So I was syringe-feeding her some soup. I'd decided to make her a pumpkin and rabbit soup, so that's what I was getting into her in very small amounts. Maybe 3mL at a time.
Her eyes were still wide and bright and she was still drinking well on her own.
That evening, when she didn't even want one of her treats, I knew something was wrong. She had had most of a raw egg the day before, and when she pooped on the kitchen floor, I panicked. It was the consistency of egg white, but part was brown with a very slight red tinge to it. Any doubt flew out the door, I knew right then that she had something in her little tummy, even though the vet said it was something else... I was scared it would be too late for her at this point.
The vet on call was not a ferret vet and they would just keep her over night for observations. I figured I could do better than just watch her. But my car keys were in my pocket and the carrier was ready to go should I need to go see a non-ferret vet.
Maybe 15 minutes after that weird poop, she did another in the potty, but more was deposited this time. I syringed a bit more pumpkin and rabbit into her. She crawled to the water fountain and had a drink and climbed into the blanket in the carrier.
Another 20 minutes after that, she pottied again and when I inspected the toilet, this is what I found:
(Q-Tip is pictured for size-comparison.)
I had put on gloves to check it, and it was solid and feels like pure fur. I didn't cut into it because I put it in a ziplock bag and I am bringing it to my vet, so she can see the "lymphoma" and "IBD" she said Vaida had.
The poor little fart was wiped right out after passing that monstrosity. She tried to nap, but she kept having to get up and diarrhea. For the next hour or so, she had 7 diarrhea episodes. After each time though, she wanted more soup, so I fed her. After the 7th episode, she napped good and hard for a couple hours. The poop after her nap was beautiful! It was perfect! I still donned gloves and examined it completely. There was no foreign bodies, just pure poop.
Her appetite has been amazing, wanting food, food and more food. She has daddy running to make her soups every time she looks up at him with her sparkly little eyes (but she already had him doing that before Sunday night. LOL). He is so wrapped around her little paw. <3
We're still giving her pumpkin just to make sure there's nothing left to come out. Her poops have been seedy since that one perfect, glorious poop. But they are formed, and I think her tummy needs to readjust to life without that monstrosity.
I want to make it a point to say that I really
don't recommend home-treating your ferret.
The only reason I did is because whenever I mentioned a blockage to my vet (the only vet who treats ferrets in my city) she told me her symptoms were likely to be IBD or lymphoma, given her age. She turns 5 this month, I think. And when I asked about a barium x-ray to check for a blockage, she started talking about biopsying Vaida's intestine to determine which it was.
If Vaida's seedy poops do not clear up, then maybe she does have IBD after all. But that wasn't what her symptoms were saying to me up until this point. Her symptoms were:
- limited or lack of appetite
- grinding teeth (usually when shown food)
- weird poops; very loose, hardly ever formed
- pawing at mouth
- vomiting
she also has had what seemed like a ridiculously enlarged spleen, which was the very first sign something was up.
In the months she has been with us, these symptoms have all periodically occurred, though not simultaneously. I absolutely told my vet about them, but she discounted them and came to the conclusion that it was more likely to be IBD or lymphoma.
I am so lucky that Vaida was able to pass that, without hurting herself in the process.
I'm also lucky that the food and water didn't build up pressure and cause her stomach or intestines to burst and go septic.
My advice to you all, is to be pushier than I was in this situation. Go with your gut, because you know what you have seen from your ferret.
The vet (depending on the individual vet, of course) may not always know best. I have never been 100% confident in my vet, and I should have demanded a barium x-ray when I brought it up at exam. If it had of been done, and a blockage showed up, we would have had the surgery to remove it. Costly, and a healing process afterward, but she would have been safe. This could have turned out much worse.
<message edited by xxLAYUPxx on Wednesday, August 06, 2014 12:10 AM>