From:
Outlaw50@aol.com
Date: 2001-05-05 03:21:00 UTC
Subject: For Dr. Burgess, Dr. Murray & other vets re: interpretation
of test results
In a message dated 5/5/01 12:02:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com writes:
<
Also realize that a general blood profile should be run prior to
any
adrenal surgery, both to determine anesthetic safety and also
because
over half of my adrenal cases have other significant disease such
as
insulinomas or inflammatory bowl disease. Key tests to run
include
glucose (fasting for 4 hours prior), ALT, GGT, Lipase, Globulin,
BUN,
Albumin and CBC. These can detect a lot of previously unsuspected
disease if one knows how to interpret them.>
I found the above post extremely interesting. As Dr. Murray knows,
I have
ferrets with Aleutian Disease. I took in 3 new ADV positive ferrets
in the
last year and recently had blood tests done on 2 of them. I also
had a new
test done on White Russian. Below are the abnormal results. Some
of them I
understand, but not all of them. Can you help?
#1 #2
#3
TP 6.8 8.6
7.5
Glob 4.2 5.9
4.6
GGT 17 12
13
Lymphocytes 50% WBC
54% WBC
Gluc 98 98
100
Alb 2.6 2.7
2.9
Eosinophil High
White Russian was found to have a moderate amount of fluid in his
chest
cavity. We've started him on Lasix. He has to have surgery in 2
weeks to
remove an infected tooth. I have spoken with Dr. Williams and am
aware of
the additional "dangers" with Russian's surgery. Since then, I've
heard that
Vitamin K injections might help prevent potential clotting problems.
Is this
something I should have done? I was astonished to find that Russian
has
significant periodontal disease as I've had his teeth scraped twice
a year.
Fox's book says it can be caused by immunosuppression, which I've
read
Aleutian disease can do with regard to other diseases. Would this
suggest
that Russian's Aleutian disease is causing this? I haven't heard of
any
other cases of periodontal disease in ferrets with Aleutian disease.
Does it
suggest anything about the progression of the disease? Also,
ferrets #1 and
#2 did not have elevated GGT 6 months ago, nor did they have 50% &
54%
lymphocytes. I tested ferret #2's blood because I found high levels
of
bilirubin in his urine using test strips, as well as moderate
amounts of
protein. Ferret #2's TP and glob were quite a bit lower 6 months
ago, also,
although they did indicate possible Aleutian disease even then (7.4
and 4.5,
respectively). Also, 6 months ago, ferret #2 had a high monocyte
count (of
7).
Thank you.
Judy
Please give to Aleutian Disease research...the ferret you save may
be your
own!
http://www.geocities.com/russiansmom/index.html