From:
Lisa
Date: 2001-10-06 13:27:00 UTC
Subject: hepatitis in ferrets
Hi all!
My ferret Gavin is three years old this month. He has had chronic
diarehea for the past 3-4 months but was large and muscular and not
lethargic at all. He had a bilateral adrenectomy last month. While the
doctor was in there, he found that Gavin had white spots all over his
liver. Additionally several of his lymph nodes in that area were
enlarged.
These were biopsied and the diagnosis on the liver spots was: "Mild to
Moderate multifocal, chronic-active, lymphocytic, portal hepatitis.
He recommended that my local vet begin treatment for the hepatitis with
3 weeks of Clavamox .5ML twice daily, two weeks of Pedia-pred .3ML twice
daily, and then four weeks of Pedia-Pred .3Ml once daily.
At the four week mark, he wanted to do a CBC and check his liver values.
He said that if they are normal, then the hepatitis is considered cured.
If not, we'd have to try another medical avenue.
Here is my problem: Gavin had a CBC done the day of his surgery - all
liver values were normal. He also had a CBC done yesterday. We started
treatment for the hepatitis yesterday and wanted to measure if his
values had elevated since the surgery. They remain normal.
My vet who did the surgery said that there isn't much, if anything,
written about hepatitis in ferrets. Does anyone have experience with
hepatitis in ferrets? Or a bit of a better way to determine that the
hepatitis is "cured"? Short of doing another surgery, we couldn't think
of a way and that is too drastic to do again.
Gavin's only sign is this chronic diarrhea. He remains normal sized and
has tons of energy.
Thanks for any advice!
Lisa Shortley