From:
Shortley, Lisa
Date: 2001-05-06 13:41:00 UTC
Subject: Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) relapse
I also have a ferret who was diagnosed with IBD back in
November, 2000 following an exploratory surgery along with
several biopsies. Noobie was treated with .2 ml Imuran daily
and .3 ml of pedia pred twice daily at his worse time with it.
I found that whenever Noobie's environment changed, he'd have
a relapse. I went on vacation and he went to a friend's
because he didn't eat on his own...following my vacation, I
had another 4 weeks of handfeeding to deal with.
It wasn't until this past February that Noobie finally began
feeling great. He started eating kibble on his own and
started maintaining his weight nicely. His energy skyrocketed
and after 8 weeks of perfect intestinal CBCs done, we weaned
him off of the pediapred completely with no problems.
The vet that had done his exploratory surgery on 11/27/00
found that his stomach wall was extremely thick, his
mezonteric lymphnode was swollen and his liver looked odd. He
biopsied all three places. Was it IBD? I dunno, I think so
but whatever it was, the treatment has worked. It took a long
time to see it work - but it's working!
THEN, to rain on my "YEAH NOOBIE'S EATING" parade, Noobie
started showing signs of adrenal disease. I had his estradial
checked because he'd just had exploratory in Nov and his
adrenals looked great. I hated to put him through another
surgery. It came back elevated. He had adrenal surgery this
past Friday - both were enlarged and both were removed with
cryosurgery by my local vet.
I also had her take a look at the stomach wall, mez.
lymphnode, and liver to see if since his symptoms had improved
over the past 6 months, if the condition had improved.
Well, her report was that Noobie's stomach wall remains thick
and his mezonteric lymph node remains enlarged. His liver
looked perfect though - as did his other organs.
Since surgery, he hasn't appeared to have a relapse of his IBD
just yet and he's still eating fairly well and his poops are
still real good.
I hope this gives you some encouragement with Zinc. :-)
Lisa