And he didn’t have to have surgery. He’s on an ulcer-preventative medication and antacids for the esophagitis, but the intestinal blockage did eventually pass. The esophagitis was a result of the vomiting, which was caused by the blockage… I guess ferrets were really just not built to handle vomiting.

He’s isolated from the other ferrets and under observation for the next 5 days to make sure he does indeed get better. The emergency care he received from both our local vet and the specialist were superb, and even though he didn’t end up needing surgery the vet visits were more than necessary because of the dehydration caused by the blockage and the inflammation in his esophagus, either of which could have killed him if left untreated.

Of course, all I can think of are swamp dragons from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series…but only Mindtwin will get that. XD