Max health woes
Max isn't feeling so chompy today. :( He's at the vet, probably being x-rayed as I write this. To make a long story short, he's had bouts of nausea and vomiting since Thanksgiving. Giving him laxatone to pass any hairballs or foreign bodies he'd ingested hasn't helped. Since the nausea/vomiting has been happening with increasing frequency, I took him to the vet.
The good news is that the vet didn't feel any obvious tumors. Some sort of cancer is still a possiblity. More likely is a hairball or other foreign body the little guy can't pass. If it's that, I told the vet to schedule surgery right away. I'll know more this afternoon.
UPDATE: As of 2:45 p.m. I haven't heard from the vet. That either means that 1) he's busy, or 2) he's in surgery removing something from Max. (I know from three prior occasions that the vet schedules surgeries in the early afternoon.) If I don't hear from him by 4:30 I'll give him a call.
UPDATE #2: The vet called around 3:45 p.m. The x-rays showed nothing amiss in Max's stomach. His bloodwork checked out, too. There are signs in Heliobacter bacteria* in his urine (I think that's where it turned up), so we're going to treat that for two weeks with an antibiotic (biaxin) and Pepcid AC. Hopefully that will get Max's stomach back to normal. Off to pick up the weasel!
* Heliobacter is normally found in ferrets' stomachs. Too much of it can cause ulcers. Max's stools don't have the dark, tarry appearance typical of ulcers, though.
The good news is that the vet didn't feel any obvious tumors. Some sort of cancer is still a possiblity. More likely is a hairball or other foreign body the little guy can't pass. If it's that, I told the vet to schedule surgery right away. I'll know more this afternoon.
UPDATE: As of 2:45 p.m. I haven't heard from the vet. That either means that 1) he's busy, or 2) he's in surgery removing something from Max. (I know from three prior occasions that the vet schedules surgeries in the early afternoon.) If I don't hear from him by 4:30 I'll give him a call.
UPDATE #2: The vet called around 3:45 p.m. The x-rays showed nothing amiss in Max's stomach. His bloodwork checked out, too. There are signs in Heliobacter bacteria* in his urine (I think that's where it turned up), so we're going to treat that for two weeks with an antibiotic (biaxin) and Pepcid AC. Hopefully that will get Max's stomach back to normal. Off to pick up the weasel!
* Heliobacter is normally found in ferrets' stomachs. Too much of it can cause ulcers. Max's stools don't have the dark, tarry appearance typical of ulcers, though.