From:
Karen Purcell, DVM
Date: 2001-07-04 08:29:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Vets please advise:Epogen protocol/Ben
Christine,
> Thank you to those responding to my question about Benji's mouth
> sore. I did take him in on Sunday (I noticed the sore on Friday evening) to
> have the sore cauterized. I have not seen any bleeding from the mouth or in
> his stools since then.
> My question is now that, for the past couple of days, he has been
> weaker, sleeping more and has not eaten as well as usual. A PCV was taken
> Saturday and shown to be 44, from what I read the low end of normal. A PCV
> was taken today and it was about 30. My vet also determined the anemia to
> be fairly non-regenerative at this time. My question to the vets (or anyone
> with knowledge of anemia) is can this change over time--for instance since
> it has only been a couple of days since the blood loss stopped, are the
> blood cells just slowly regenerating or will they regenerate at all?
Does Benji have some other medical problem causing the anemia -
kidney disease, maybe? Bone marrow abnormalites?
If the blood is non-regenerative, then
something is definitely wrong.
Next,
> my vet suggested I use Epogen, since I already have some on hand. The dose
> he gave me was .2ml/week. I did some reading in the archives and everything
> I read indicated that the ferrets were getting this in 3 SQ injections, not
> all at once. Is there a specific reason for this protocol?
Not too my knowledge, but information on epogen in ferrets is
primarily anecdotal at this point. I have a dose of 50-150 IU/kg
every 48 hours until the blood levels are out of danger range, then
once weekly thereafter.
And considering
> that this anemic episode arose from an injury rather than a chronic
> condition, does that change anything? Again, Benji is around 8 years old,
> has had borderline insulinoma for a little over 2 years now (taking .35cc of
> Pred BID), and also is on Lupron for his adrenal disease.
I'd definitely be concerned that there is some other underlying
disease contributing to the anemia. Please keep us posted.
-Dr. Karen
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