From:
scruffyou
Date: 2001-10-12 04:21:00 UTC
Subject: Eosiniphilic Entreites and vacs
Hi Nichole and All,
Sorry to hear you are dealing with this ugly disease. I have written to
this list several times in the past about this disease. I have a young
female ferret with it. Her name is Rinkydink. If you look in the archives
under Rinkydink and EE you should find her story.
At vaccination time I discussed with my vet the advisability of getting
Rinkydink her vacs. EE is an immune system disorder. Vacs trigger the
immune system. We decided that because her chance of biting someone or
contracting rabies was nil to zero to not give her the rabies vaccine.
Because I help to run a shelter and am in a lot of contact with rescue
ferrets we decided to do her distemper vaccine. It was a bad descision. It
took us MONTHS to get her stabilized again. I came very close to losing
her. It was a second opinion and a very forward thinking vet that saved her
life. Rinkydink is now on allergy meds, a STRONG low dose steriod and
hill's canine ultra hypo allergenic food supplemented with ham baby food.
We are only now able to gradualy cut back on her steriod medications and she
is slowly returning to a normal ferret.
Please understand, Rinkydink's case was very advanced when she was
diagnosed. I had been trying to get her diagnosed for over 6 months before
exploratory surgery finaly gave us the answer. I would advice thinking very
carefully about all the risk factors of getting the vacs and the risks not
getting them and then compare them to the seriousnes of the disease in your
ferret. Is it an advanced case, was it caught early before too much damage
was done?
HappyTails,
Karen and the Scruff You Gang
Secretary Dook-N-Dance Ferret Shelter
www.dook-n-dance.org