From:
Ulrike
Date: 2001-04-23 07:05:00 UTC
Subject: Very sick ferrets, vets, please help
Hello
My Mason was acting very sick this morning. Yesterday he was bouncing
around and playing and eating well and this morning he was wobbly on his
feet, very weak, lethargic, depressed, very thirsty, he went to the water
bowl, drank a little, then he just stood over the bowl and didn't do
anything like he forgot what he was doing. Like his mind went blank. He
couldn't manage to go into the toilet to have a pee. When I fed him, he
didn't seem to want to eat and he was shaking and shivering after he had a
little but about an hour later I gave him more and he was happy to eat and
was okay after eating. He's very floppy when I hold him, just lies in my
arms, doesn't seem to have any energy. He felt hot to me but when we got to
the vets, his temperature was normal. I also used some urine strips on him
to see if he had sugar in his urine but it was negative. The vet felt his
tummy and couldn't feel anything so suggested a blood test and an x-ray.
The blood test results are:
HCT = 56.5%
HGB = 20.7 g/dl
MCHC = 36.6 g/dl
WBC # 9.3 x 10^9/L
GRANS = 7.7 x 10^9/L
%GRANS # 83%
L/M # 1.6 x 10^9/L
%L/M # 17%
PLT > 18 x 10^9/L
The # means that the result isn't accurate because something didn't separate
properly, the vet explained it but I didn't quite understand why it wasn't
accurate.
The x-ray showed something in Mason's chest. My vet doesn't quite know what
to make of it and will phone somebody who may know how to analyse the x-ray.
There seems to be something in his chest that shouldn't be there. My vet
said something about a possible lymphoma? Whatever it is, it seems to be
pushing the heart out of it's place. My vets x-rayed Igor and Jack and
their hearts were in the middle but Mason's is more on one side. The lungs
are clear, there seems to be no fluid. The mass is in a cavity between the
heart and lungs and is pushing the heart over to one side (I think the left)
and the right hand lung is being compressed. It doesn't seem to be severe
now but the speed he's gone downhill, who knows what he'll be like tomorrow.
My vet isn't actually sure whether it is a mass but if the heart is not in
it's place... Mason is on antibiotics for now and I syringe him fluid as he
seems dehydrated.
The vets took the blood from the jugular vein and didn't have to sedate him,
he held still for them. When he had his x-ray, he just laid on the table
and they didn't even need to hold him... That's not good for a ferret...
My other guys have never held still when the vets attempted to get blood
from the jugular vein, no matter how sick they were...
From Ulrike
and Jilly, Jack, Bella, Tom, Mason, Baby, Dana, Fox, Reno, Rose, Jasmine,
Barney, Spike, Hobo and Gremlin
Missing Angel, Hope and Igor
West Wales Ferret Welfare
E-mail: ferretlove@n...
http://www.ferretlove.freeserve.co.uk
Last update 23/02/01
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