From:
Kris McDevitt
Date: 2001-04-23 11:40:00 UTC
Subject: [Ferret-Health-list] Very sick ferrets, vets, please help
help
I am not a vet but I hope this info will help. On February 7th I
experienced the exact same thing with my sweatheart Angel. He was about 8
months old, and had been very active and playful until that day. I came
home from work to find him exactly as you described Mason. I ended up
taking him to a 24 hour emergency hospital that same night thinking he had
pneumonia. They took blood and x-rays and found a large mass in his chest
pressing on his heart and lungs, probably juvenile lymphosarcoma. I
transferred him to my regular vet the next morning who diagnosed the same
way. She said that chemo didn't work on juvenile cases (how old is Mason?)
and after debating for 8 hours, and watching Angel get worse to the point
where he wouldn't even lift his head, we ending up putting him to sleep,
even though I was very torn about it. Last week when I took Angel's brother
Spike in for problems he's been having my vet told me she had just learded
of a single dose radition treatment at a seminar with Dr. Weiss (I dont have
his web site but he is very popular). She said that the radiation treatment
ran between $200-$300, but that in many cases with the tumor in the chest,
it led to immediate results and remission of the cancer although it is not a
lifelong cure. I was upset at the time because all I could think was that
if we had known this earlier I might have had been able to given Angel more
time of happiness, at least for a while. If you get a definate diagnosis of
lymphosarcoma maybe your vet can look into this with Dr. Weiss or Dr
Williams is he can confirm this info. I hope this helps. Please let me
know.
Dawn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ulrike" <ferretlove@n...>
To: "Ferret-Health-list" <Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 1:05 PM
> 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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