By Kristen Onasch

Gastric ulcers are fairly common in ferrets, so it’s essential that you familiarize yourself with the symptoms. If caught in time, ulcers are completely treatable, so recognizing and properly identifying symptoms can save your ferret's life!

The cause of ulcers in ferrets is an overgrowth of Helicobacter mustelae, an organism that is always in the stomach. Overgrowth is often caused by stress, such as excessive caging, other illnesses, surgery, a move, adding a new ferret or losing a cagemate, rapid growth in kits, changes or inadequacy in diet, hot environmental temperatures, dehydration, and more.

The most telling symptom of ulcers is black, tarry stools. The black color is indicative of digested blood in the feces, which means that the ferret has bleeding in the stomach and intestines. Other symptoms include:

• Decreased appetite
• Lethargy
• Soft poorly digested stools (seedy, mushy diarrhea)
• Rubbing the face against things, pawing at the mouth, drooling (signs of nausea)
• Vomiting
• Grinding teeth
• Bad breath
• Pale gums (a sign of anemia due to the continued blood loss in the stomach and intestines)
• Weight loss, often sudden and drastic
• Dehydration

Treatment generally includes a combination of antibiotics, a stomach protectant, and a bland, easy to digest diet. The common medications used to treat ulcers are Amoxicillin and Biaxin (Clarithromycin) for antibiotics and Carafate (Sucralfate) to protect the stomach. Speak to your veterinarian about dosages and length of treatment. In severe cases, the ferret may need to be hospitalized and receive intravenous (IV) fluids, transfusions, and other supportive measures.

If left untreated, the ulcer can become deeper and enter a big blood vessel or go through the stomach or intestine wall (perforates). If this happens, the ferret can die in a matter of minutes. This is why it is so important to treat a ferret showing symptoms of ulcers as soon as possible.

Full recovery will take a minimum of 4 weeks, during which time you will need to monitor your ferret’s food intake and feces very closely. If you have multiple ferrets, separate the sick ferret for at least the first 3 weeks, or until he is obviously well on his way to recovery (not exhibiting symptoms).

There are a few ways you can help to prevent ulcers. Keep your ferret’s stress levels at a minimum. This means lots of out of cage time and stimulating activities, toys and games. Make sure you give only ferret safe treats that can’t get lodged anywhere to prevent stomach or intestinal damage. Thoroughly ferretproof play areas so that your ferret can’t swallow any harmful items. Give your ferret hairball remedy/laxative on a regular basis to prevent hairballs/blockages. Have your ferret receive regular veterinary exams so illnesses can be identified early and treated.



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