From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-04-29 14:17:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Help! Sick?
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "FurTulsa" <FURTulsa@H...> wrote:
> The super power one is nothing but a teaspoon of chicken baby food,
1/2 inch ribbon of Ferretvite, 2 CC's Dyne and 2 CC'c Ensure and 1 CC
of honey.
> I have given her 4 CC's of the high powered, a total of 12 CC's of
regular duck soup, about 30 CC's of a Gatorade/Pedialyte blend and .5
CC of Pepto Bismol and a .5 CC of Amoxycillian.
> This has all been between an hour to an hour and half ago.
> So far there has been no significant improvement... she isn't
horrid or crashing but she isn't quite her normal hyperactive,
friendly self either.
> I though maybe early signs of Insulinoma, but the "special" soup
should have perked her up and "snapped" out of it right?
> Obviously, if need be, we will keep her hydrated and on duck soup
through the night and get her to the vets tomorrow.... does anyone
have any other suggestions, ideas or thoughts in the meantime>
Well, I don't think that there is enough information at this point to
even guess at a diagnosis, I would make just a couple of general
comments.
1) I don't think that you can really make any determination of the
prsence of an insulinoma based on a response to orally adiminstered
sugary compounds. Some animals snap out, some don't - a blood test
is always the best way to tell - properly done, it takes all of the
guesswork out of interpreting clinical signs or response to dietary
manipulation.
2) The administration of antibiotics on an empiric basis to animals
that are not doing well (especially those with normal temps) may
prevent a proper diagnosis from ever being made. They may mask low-
grade bacterial infections, prevent bacterial cultures from ever
being positive, may result in mild improvement in clinical signs only
to relapse over several days, or in some cases, result in clinical
signs, themselves. (Amoxicillin is fairly safe overall, although
about 10% of animals receiving it will go off their food.)
In general, antibiotics are only good against bacteria, and should
only be employed when a bacterial infection is diagnosed.
While it is difficult to be in a rescue without immediate access to a
veterinarian, I generally advocate caution in the utilization of
antibiotics as part of a first line therapy. SQ fluids, and a bland
diet are often sufficient to maintain an animal until appropriate
diagnosis can be made.
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
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