From:
Betty
Date: 2001-03-22 17:09:00 UTC
Subject: Need opinion on Pear shape, Breath odor
To the moderators:
Ellen has been trying unsuccessfully tried to post this the FHL, so to
try and speed things up, I thought I would post this for her. Should Dr.
Williams or one of the other vets reply, I will also watch for the
response and forward it to her, unless someone wants to do this instead.
Thanks,
Betty and Her Blur O'Fur
> I have been told that you address ferret health concerns.
>
> I have a 5 year old female ferret, Binkey. Clinical presentation:
Several
> months ago Binkey's hair began to change and she became more subdued.
Her
> hair was once thick, shiny and soft like silk, but it started getting
> course, sparse and dull. She does NOT have bald spots (eg: tail) it
is just
> thin all over and has an unhealthy look and feel to it. She does
still play
> but only briefly and then she returns to her cage and crawls under her
> covers. Her body has gradually taken on a pear shape and her breath
now has
> an odor to it. Binkey's water-drinking has increased noticeably,
urination
> increased markedly. Her appetite remains constant and good although
she
> refuses "good ferret food" demanding the junk grocery store kitten
food.
>
> On 1-12-01 lab work was:
> ALKP 150 U/L
> ALT 349 U/L
> BUN 33.3 mg/dl
> CREA 0.51 mg/dl
> GLU 92.1 mg/dl
> TP 8.05 5/dl
> her normal body weight is around 1 lb 9 oz. on 1-12-01 it was 687 gms
>
> on 2-5-01 the lab work was redone:
> ALKP 135 U/L
> ALT 379 U/L
> BUN 26.9 mg/dl
> CREA 0.51 mg/dl
> GLU 100.8 mg/dl
> TP 8.82 g/dl
> body weight: 723 grams
>
> Normal range given:
> ALKP 9-84
> ALT 82-289
> BUN 10.0-45.0
> CREA 0.40-0.90
> GLU 94.0-207.0
> TP 5.20-7.30
>
> History: On 4-6-99 Binkey was hospitalized. At that time she was
acutely
> depressed having just lost her best ferret-friend 2-3 weeks prior. At
her
> "friend's" death, Binkey went from healthy to, on the day of
> hospitalization, having an ALT of 590 and a body weight of 427 gms.
> Exploratory laparotomy was done on 4-8-99. The surgeon believed what
he saw
> to be multiple malignant tumors of small intestine, pancreas, left
adrenal
> w/ possible metastasis to the liver. He removed as many tumors as
possible.
> HOWEVER, all pathology reports were NEGATIVE. A secondary laboratory
> confirmed the NEGATIVE finding. Binkey remained essentially unchanged
until
> October of 99 when her depression improved markedly and she has been
symptom
> free until now. Her last normal weight was 9-6-00 at which time she
was lb
> 9 oz.
>
> Binkey's next vet appointment is March 29th.
>
> I would greatly appreciate your input and thank you in advance.
> Thank You,
> Ellen J. List
> dwlist@p...
>