From:
Mildred Moore
Date: 2001-02-24 09:29:00 UTC
Subject: AutoImmune Disease in my ferret
Hi Everyone,
I am so sorry to read about the losses and health problems in so many of
our beloved fuzzies.
I really hate to bother you, but my Suzy seems to have pemphigus. A biopsy
was not performed until after she had had a long and short term cortizone
shot. The biopsy only showed that there was no bacteria in the sores.
The sores are located around, between, top and bottom of her paws, all
around her mouth, one ear, eyes, some near her vulva and anus, plus a couple
on her tail. She has gotten this bad over a period of 3 months. She is one
Methylprednisolone at this time, high doseage of 2 1/4 mgs every morning and
again at night.
I recently changed vets because she kept getting worse. Every time she
would show some improvemnet, he cut her Prednisolone back, then it would get
worse than before.
We are at a loss as to where to go from here. Do you have any ideas on
what we can do to help her? She is close to 5 years of age, and I can tell
that she is very unhappy about her problems. I almost feel like she wants
to give up.
She is on .5ml of Cefa Drops each morning to keep out any secondary
infections. She has stopped eating solid food, but does eat duck soup after
each dose of pred (which I mix with Ferretvite). And yes, she has gained
weight, up from normal weight of 1 lb 12 oz to 2 lb 6 oz.
Thanks,
Millie