From:
Lisa Shortley
Date: 2001-08-12 17:43:00 UTC
Subject: IBD cured (gone)
Hi everyone!
Knowing that the diagnosis of IBD is still questionable to some, I
just wanted to post a little about my experience with my ferret
Noobie.
Noobie was diagnosed with IBD in Nov. 2000 via biopsies on his liver,
mez lymph node, intestines and stomach wall. His treatment plan
included pedia-pred and Imuran along with a bland diet. He also was
followed with monthly Super CBCs.
It took about 5 months before he began eating kibble at all (or
eating anything on his own) but once he did, his improvement was
dramatic and QUICK! Soon, I was able to wean him totally off of the
pedia-pred, and get him down from his daily doseage of Imuran to once
every other day, and then even further down to .1 every other day.
Noobie had his exploratory surgery on November 27, 2000 where the
areas biosied were found to be extremely enflamed and irritated.
Once his syptoms of the IBD began to lessen, Noobie began to go bald
(adrenal disease). So on May 4th, 2001, he had adrenal surgery and
my vet also checked out his problem areas that were biopsied from his
last surgery. I was curious, since his clinical symptoms of IBD had
lessened so greatly, what did his insides now look like?
Her report was that his stomach wall remained thickened and nobby,
his intestines still looked irritated, and his mezonteric lymph node
remained quite large. She did not do biopsies since the previous
surgeron had done them only 6 months prior and just made the
observation that there was no significant change in the physiological
appearance of these areas.
After this adrenal surgery, Noobie continued to improve and gained
more weight and muscle and was much more energetic! Unfortunately, he
stopped growing his fur back in after only several weeks and his bald
spots remained bald.
On this past Friday (8/10), I brought him down to Maryland to the
first surgeon who'd diagnosed him with IBD for an ectopic tissue
removal surgery. Noobie was found to have two areas of ectopic
adrenal tissue inside of him.
The wonderful surprise was that all of the problem areas inside of
Noobie that had looked so horrible months before treatment, were 100%
normal now! This vet did not do biopsies on these areas again to
prove this because clinically, he was doing so well, and it appeared
to look great, he didn't want to bother or disturb his digestive
system by doing biopsies on the areas.
I just wanted to post because the treatment worked very well with my
ferret. He was never on any antibiotics for this ailment aside from
teh amoxidrops following each of his surgeries. Just hoping to give
those of you who's ferrets are in the IBD boat a little encouragement!
Lisa Shortley