From:
Debbie F
Date: 2001-03-14 03:54:00 UTC
Subject: EE info needed
Hi all,
We are looking for info in EE but first... way to go Dr. W on
keeping this list just on ferret health issues and as for
finding a ferret vet, the majority of vets we run into here in
the Minneapolis/St. Paul area who "SEE" ferrets - many of
which are giving the wrong vaccination with the explanation of
it is their right to decide which vaccinations to give - and
our shelter gets several calls a week looking for referrals
because thanks to lists like these they know enough about
ferret medicine to know the diagnosis they were given does not
sound right. Some examples are ferrets with obvious adrenal
balding diagnosed with male pattern balding syndrome or a skin
disease unique to ferrets in the Upper Midwest!
Meanwhile, we have two ferrets who came in separately, one at
9 months and one at 1 year, both of them came in puking every
three days. On their two good days, they eat like horses and
seem to make up for what they lose on their off day. We ran
all the blood tests, CBC/Profile etc. The only thing we found
were low proteins. Everything else was normal. Did x-rays
looking for blockages or anything else, nothing abnormal. Out
of desperation, did an exploratory on the one year old, found
the left adrenal starting and an inflamed pancreas. The
question here is, did they puking inflame the pancreas, or did
the inflamed pancreas cause the puking. Tried a number of
antibiotics, diet variations, nada. Although Cretia did
suspend puking for one month following surgery, then went back
on her 3 day regimen. Unfortunately, at the time of the
surgery, we weren't looking for EE and did not do any GI
biopsies. Lately we've seen some new symptoms added primarily
with Angel, the 9 month old, who is now 1½. The first symptom
was their ears becoming turgid and red on their puke days and
then the last couple of weeks Angels face and paws have been
swelling. At first this was just on the puke days, but now is
carrying over. Our vet did a skin biopsy on Angels ear and
paw (didn't want to go in for a GI biopsy at this point) and
sent them into the lab. I don't have the report in front of
me to give you an exact diagnosis, but the gist of it was they
thought between the history and the biopsies, there was an
indication towards EE.
If anyone has information, website, FAQ sheet, or any other
source, please let us know. If one of the esteemed vets on
this list would care to consult with our vet for a full
history on this case, please e-mail me privately and I will
pass on the information to her on how to reach you.
We are really hoping someone can help us. We have been
looking for something to match these symptoms for the last
year and happened to come across a short mention of EE on the
FML but have not found any real info.
Debbie F.