From:
daneedv
Date: 2002-01-02 22:16:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Inflammatory Bowel Disease
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., Fuzzbukket12@a... wrote:
> Hello everyone.I've been reading posts on this site for 2 months
and haven't
> seen any thing pertaining to this as of yet.
>
> One of my males-a rescue of undetermined age, has been diagnosed by
our vet
> to have inflammatory bowel disease. > Have any of you had
experience with this? Any help or comments are greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Erika and the gang....Claymore,Angus,Rocky,Jetson,Peanut,Blind
Melon
> Chitlin,Boy Named Sue,Tracy and Hepburn
Inflamatory Bowel Disease is often referred to as IBD. If you check
the files section of this site, there is an article there by Dr. Mark
Burgess on IBD.
I have one ferret, Wolfie, who has suffered IBD for almost 3 years.
Initially, we treated him with pred, and had some good results. He
even had periods of remission. But as time wore on, it came back
more and more frequently.
This past August I switched him to Imuran. Since the switch he has
done very well. This fall he weighted up nicely and has a very plush
soft coat (2 things he didn't do last winter). Over the long term,
Imuran has many advantages over pred - one being it is far less
likely to cause liver damage.
I would strongly suggest reading the article by Dr. Burgess, and
perhaps printing off a copy to show to your vet. Using Imuran to
treat IBD is somewhat new, and many vets are not familiar with it.
While it may not work for all cases, the people I know that have
tried it have been very impressed with results, and I do not know of
anyone that has had adverse side effects from it.
Danee