My ferret recently started having loose stools and I fear that she may have gotten into something or eaten something that is causing it. I first noticed about one month ago that her anus protrudes slightly. What causes this? Are the loose stools somehow related to this?

Underlying diseases that increase intra-abdominal pressure.

I suspect that the protruding rectum and the soft stools are related. It sounds like your ferret has rectal prolapse. Rectal prolapse is the protrusion of a portion of the bowel through the anus. This condition usually occurs as a result of an underlying disease or process that increases intra-abdominal pressure. Your ferret is probably straining when defecating, and this raises the intra-abdominal pressure.

The underlying pathology behind the soft stools and straining may be a parasitic or other infection that causes inflammation of the bowel or anus (enteritis and proctitis, respectively). Infections with protozoal parasites such as Coccidia and Giardia are common causes of diarrhea. Proliferative bowel disease or noninfectious inflammatory conditions that cause chronic diarrhea frequently lead to rectal prolapse. Other conditions that may directly or indirectly cause rectal prolapse include foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract, ingested toxins and tumors.

If the prolapsed tissue is limited to the most superficial layers of the rectum (where only part of the bowel wall protrudes), no specific treatment may be required. Such limited prolapses may even self-correct. In such cases, the veterinarian will focus on eliminating the underlying cause of the diarrhea and straining. If the underlying disease is an infection, appropriate antimicrobial drugs will be given.

In more difficult cases, the veterinarian may manually reposition the bowel and place a temporary suture to maintain the correction until it heals. If the prolapse is full thickness (involves the entire thickness of the bowel wall), it will not reposition itself and will need emergency surgical measures to put it back in place so as to avoid tissue strangulation and death. Sometimes damaged tissue must be amputated. Although little prolapses may self-correct, they usually get worse.

I strongly encourage you to have your veterinarian examine and treat your ferret. The condition may progress to a full-thickness protrusion that requires emergency surgery. If not addressed, a simple problem could become complicated and life threatening.

04/27/04