QUESTION:
I have a male ferret that is just under 1 year. I started noticing he was loosing weight but still played hard so didnt worry about him. Then one day I noticed him straining to poop. When I checked his bottom he had a little prolaspe. I called the vet and ran him in but by the time I got him there, it had gone away. The vet gave him an antibiotic and a tummy soothing and coating medication. Took him home and put him on duck soup. He ate good for 3 days then came home from work and noticed a larger prolapse that did not go away. Took him to the vet again. They did regular x-rays and ran blood work. The x-rays looked normal ( no Blockage) and no gas pockets or build up to indicate a hair ball. Blood work did come back with white blood cell count at 13.4. We switched the meds to clavamox, carafate, and one for pain. The vet feels he may have been sick and developed an ulcer. I feed him every 3-4 hours with the duck soup and he eats about 1/3 cup. I make it pretty runny so he gets fluids. He poops, but they are loose which they told me they would be with the carafate. sometimes I hear him wimper when he poops and their is blood streaks in his poop. The poop is the color of his duck soup so they are not dark and tarry. The vet had put a stitch in his butt to help keep the prolaspe from getting bigger. The stitch has recently been taken out and he is okay there but I am concerned about the blood and if I have missed something. Is it normal to have blood in his poop if he has an ulcer. What am I missing??

ANSWER:
Your ferret seems so young to be having these problems! Are you just feeding the 'duck' soup and what exactly does it contain? If the vet thinks he has ulcers there is a protocol for that, it is Amoxy, Biaxin and Pepto Bismol. The Carafate has to be given about 40 mins before meds, it coats the stomach and will inhibit the absorption of the meds unless you wait the 40 mins. To read more about it: www.miamiferret.org Go to HEALTHCARE and click on ULCERS.

Sometimes a ferret can have an obstruction that moves around in the stomach causing abrasions, maybe you need to do Xrays with barium to be sure. If it is red blood that you are seeing in the stool it could be indicative of 'bleeding ulcers'. Since he is not being treated properly, the ulcers are not getting better and therefore he is in great pain. I have never heard that Carafate causes runny stools. However runny stools will encourage the prolapse, so need to firm those up. The antibiotics kill both the bad and good bacteria in the gut, so you do need to replace the enzymes which will also help in controlling the diarrhia, runny poops etc..

I would recommend you copy the info from the site I gave you and take it to your vet. Maybe with the correct meds and diet he will recover. Dr. Bruce Williams recommends feeding only BABYFOOD when a ferret has ulcers as it is easy to digest, quickly assimilated and bland, so will not harm his stomach. I am quite worried about your ferret, he seems so young to be having these problems unless he does indeed have a foreign body, or something to have caused all this.

QUESTION:
I need some help...one of my ferrets has a very bloody stool. She seems to be feeling fine. Not other problems. 2 days ago, I mixed a good quality kitten food in with her regular food, ( I was running low on her normal food, and the store was out.) She also likes raisins, but it was about 3 days ago she had one, so I don't think that's the problem. I need any help I can get. I'm so worried about her.

ANSWER:
Is the color of the stool RED or BLACK? You mentioned that you started the ferret on a new 'kitten food' does it have RED coloring in it? This may be the reason that you are suspecting 'blood' in the stool, IF YOU ARE SEEING A RED COLOR!

BLOOD in the stool is usually seen as a very dark red color or mostly BLACK. If you suspect that it is really blood then you need to take a stool sample to your vet to analyze it!

Since the ferret is acting normal it probably is the food coloring you are seeing, however if the change in food has caused some gastric disturbances then, if 'ulcers' are forming, you will also see blood in the stool and the ferret will need medication.
Please let me know what you find out.