From:
Penelapee@earthlink.net
Date: 2001-06-22 10:43:00 UTC
Subject: ? for vets
Hi
I have a approx 7 year old, 1 kg, MF male ferret I acquired 8 months
ago. He is vaccinated with Galaxy-D, HW negative and on prevention,
eats totally ferrt, and is AD negative. He has insulinoma and doing
fine on pred 1mg PO BID. Recently I had a bad case of influenza and
before I knew it my ferret was ill. He started sneezing. A few days
later he started having clear to brown nasal discharge and I put him
on Benadryl 1mg PO TID and Amoxi drops. A few days later he became
dyspnic and I took him to the vet to rule out any heart problems. (no
fever, crusting of paws, rash on chin, etc) The veterinarian thought
he acted like he had emphasema. He took a couple radiographs and
said he looks much better than he sounds, but he has an enlarged
heart and some fluid in his lungs. So he drew some blood and ran a
CBC and Chem panel. The BG was very low at 17 mg/dl, glob were
slightly increased, TP was 8.5g/dl but the rest of his chem panel
including electrolytes was normal. His WBC count was 10,000mm3, PCV
was 43%, and lymphs were 1%. The vet gave him a lasix injection and
sent me home with oral lasix. He said continue the amoxi drops and
give 50 ml of fluids SQ SID. He is eating a/d well and drinking
pedialtye. He will not eat totally ferret right now. It has been 3
days since his vet appointment and I have not seen much of a change.
He sounds very congested in the nasal area. I think his nose is all
congested. The vet said we could add enacard too, but we have to be
very careful.
So my question is am I doing all I can? Is there anything I can give
to clear up his head? He is still really sneezing and I can hear him
wheeze even while sleeping. I am willing to do anything I can to
make him comfortable, but I do not want to put him through much if it
is better to put him to rest. What is the max dose I can give of
lasix and prednisone?
Thank you for all your help and suggestions
Sue