Jebabba is a little Frankenferret

Poor Jebabba had to go in for emergency exploratory surgery yesterday, and now he has a bellyful of stitches. On Friday I had to rush him down to Chadwell Animal Hospital (Dr. Edling, my usual vet, was out) because he was throwing up white foam. He couldn't even keep down water. X-rays seemed to indicate a partial blockage because of a hairball in his stomach. We treated him with medication over the weekend until my appointment yesterday.

So yesterday morning, he refused food and his poop was really small. I was concerned that if there was a partial blockage, it had either become a full blockage or a piece had broken off and lodged in his intestines. When I got him to Dr. Edling, she said she didn't think it was a hairball because she couldn't feel anything. I asked her to open him anyway so we could be sure.

Well, she was right - no hairball. In fact, there was nothing visibly wrong with anything. All of his organs look really good - liver, stomach, etc. The intestines are nice and pink, and his adrenals look good. So she took a biopsy of his instestines so we can see if he has IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease), which was my initial guess before the hairball symptoms (based on his sometimes picky eating, random loose stools, and randomly changing taste in food).

Anyway, now my poor little Frankenferret is in his playpen recovering. He's on Biaxin and Amoxi for 2 weeks and Carafate for 10 days. She gave me some pain meds to give him if it seems like he's in discomfort. So far he's doing pretty well. He's already eaten a whole jar of baby food today.

I'm relieved that he made it through ok and everything looks ok. But I kind of wish it had been a hairball. That would have been easier to deal with than IBD. Remove the hairball, get him recovered from surgery, and he's done. If it's IBD, there will be dietary changes and medication, and we'll have to figure out exactly what medication (pred or Imuran) and how much, what his diet should be, etc etc etc. But a diagnosis of IBD wouldn't be as bad as the biopsy coming back normal. If that happens, then I'll have absolutely no idea what's wrong with him.

Tags

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ferret, ferrets, blockage, hairball, IBD