From:
madisontyler@hotmail.com
Date: 2001-10-27 09:22:00 UTC
Subject: treating lympho, but now hair loss and what looks like
seizures?
hello group,
my precious baby, kiefer, had been diagnosed w/ lymphoma. he's been
on prelone since march. first 2x/day then went to 1/x day and now
back to 2x/day. doc says no chemo because he's over 8 yrs old. just
quality of life.
kiefer, my "lil' K-man," has good and bad days. fearing way too much
weight loss, he's now on a diet of baby food, furo-vite, and crushed-
up dry food. he's gained weight since on this diet, and he seems to
enjoy our hand-feeding sessions.
kiefer has a strong will, he's my first ferret and has survived my
other two--kimber and kit, even though back in '96 he had a severe
bacterial infection and was told by his doctors he "might not make
it"--it was very bad, but thankfully he survived.
my concern is that just recently he's lost almost all his hair. this
was sudden--first i noticed a bit of hair loss on his scruff over the
past couple months, doc wasn't worried, but just the other day
practically all the hair from his back came off!! at first i
attributed it to a new cage i got him, (we just moved to new york and
he went from his own room to a cage when i'm not home and room time
when i am) but now i'm wondering if he could also have adrenal
disease. his ribs are so pronounced through his pale skin.
i've asked his doctors to advise me as to the tests he has already
taken. still waiting for response. he had a lot of tests that
diagnosed him with cancer, and thus receiving prelone. could this
hair loss be a side effect of the prelone?
his other symptoms aside from his swollen glands and hair loss--weak
hind leg coordination, (it's so sad to see him stumbling!) loose,
watery stools, (no ece though, thank god) poor appetite, (which has
improved with his new diet) and now i've noticed what could be
seizures.
it first looked like chewing, but he now does it frequently, combined
with a repeated head tic, and it last a couple minutes at a time. i
am concerned he's in pain.
a big problem is that here in new york i haven't found any vets that
treat ferrets. any recommendations? is it possible for a ferret to
have lymphoma and still develop adrenal disease and/or insulinoma?
is the prelone making him feel worse? when he's out and about he
still has energy, he just peters out after a short time and sleeps a
lot.
thanks for reading. i would appreciate any input as i am still
trying to locate a good vet for him here. for now we're just
spending a lot of time together. how long does a ferret have once
he's been diagnosed? his lumps on his jaws, sides of neck, under
armpits and on his thighs don;t seem to be getting any smaller. his
last doc didn;t give me a time frame, but did go on to say that
ferrets don;t live past nine years, is this true?
thanks to all of you,
madison