From:
Kristine
Date: 2001-02-24 16:43:00 UTC
Subject: Re: AutoImmune Disease in my ferret
Millie, Bandito came to us with pemphigus. It took a long time for
the diagnosis and from your discription it sounds the same. Bandito
was covered from head to foot in sores, pads of feet had sores, ears,
inside his nose. We had several skin scrapings done trying to
diagnose this.
Long term cortisone shots were used initially and we got it under
control this way. Since then he has been on predisone, 2.5 mg daily.
He has a little scabbing now on one ear, but nothing like he did. I
will upload some pics into the file for you of him. Before and now
shots I have. I don't have any when he first came in before we
started cortisone, but you will get the idea.
Bandito is about 1 years old and doing very well now. I wish you lots
of luck. I'm suprised to hear of your case, I felt so alone with
Bandito when I first realized his disorder.
Take care,
Kristine
>
> 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