From:
The Divide Homeowners Assoc.
Date: 2001-05-02 14:16:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Epogen
Quoting Debbie F <Debbie@v...>:
> My ferret is sick. His red blood cell count is way
down. 6 weeks ago,
> whe> n the count was at 8%, my vet and I each brought
in a healthy one-year old
> > and he got 2 blood transfusions that day. Two
weeks later his red blood
> ce> ll count was holding at 13%. My vet thought we
could try Epogen. Wylie
> wa> s put on .025cc sub-q every other day. I gave
him the first shot and he
> wa> s extremely nauseated. Two days later, time for
another shot, the nausea
> h> ad pretty much gone so I gave him the second
dose. Again, extreme nausea.
> > So much that he would groan through the night. I
did not give him any
> mor> e. Two weeks after the shots, he pinked up more
than he had been. I have
> > not gotten another blood count but his gums and the
roof of his mouth has
> g> one pale again. The nausea is gone. So has his
appetite. I would like
> to> give it a try again, my vet says I can. She has
not seen any side
> effects> before, but has only used it on cats. Has
any one here used it on
> ferrets> ? Is the nausea a common side effect or
could that have been from
> somethin> g else ( like the beginning of an ulcer).
I did treat it with Carafate.
> W> hen that did not control the pain, I tried
Zantac. Any other ideas, or do
> > you think I should not try it again. We are not
sure of the cause of the
> a> nemia. He had adrenal surgery one year ago and
the right was just
> debulked> as it was too difficult to take out.
Could the cancer have spread to the
> > bone marrow and slowed the manufacturing of red
blood cells? Any ideas
> wou> ld be appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
> Debbie F.
>
Debbie, I am not a vet but have been dealing with a
similar situation lately with my ferret Oliver. Oliver
had adrenal surgery 2 years ago and was doing fine
until alittle over a month ago. Oliver was diagnosed
with kidney failure and anemia, what we did not know at
that time was whether the kidneys were the primary
problem or secondary to another adrenal problem. Oliver
was put on delupron for the adrenal problem, baytril
for his enlarged prostate and zantac to control the
nausea. 3 weeks ago we started injecting him with
epogen 3x a week at .06, Oliver is about 1200+ grams. I
have not seen any side effects, i.e., nausea but it
could be because he has been on the zantac all along
and continues to be at .07 2x daily. I ran the first
blood panel yesterday since this all started and he is
now not anemic and his bun count is normal. Creatine is
still high, probably a chronic kidney problem. Not sure
any of this will help, good luck. Deidre and Oliver!
---------------------------------------------------
This mail was sent through Sopris Webmail http://webmail.sopris.net