From:
ferretkrazi
Date: 2001-12-18 10:39:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Kidney Failure ? How Do I Stop It?
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "lmcaselman" <caselman@g...> wrote:
> I have an 7 year old female ferret named Mary. She has had some
> insulinoma problems and is on .5 cc pediapred twice a day. Last week
> Mary took a bad turn and has not gotten over it and is getting
worse.
> I took her to the vet and was told that her fasting sugar was 98
and
> that she didn't see anything wrong. Mary has kept eating and
drinking
> very well even tho one day she couldn't keep her head up. Anyway...
> the vet asked me if her urine was clear which it hadn't been. She
> told me that if it was it was probably her kidneys shutting down
but
> she didn't tell me what to do if it happened and now it has and my
> vet is unavailable due to a family emergency. I live in a small
area
> and the vets here don't know anything about ferrets. I have to
drive
> 100 miles one way to get to my vet and I'm afraid that at this
point
> Mary won't be able to take the drive if I can find another vet. Any
> idea what I can do for my baby? If not to cure her then to make her
> more comfortable? Thank you for your time and any help that you
have.
> Lois
Hi Lois,
The whole "I'm not a vet" thing applies here, but wanted to respond
since I've been through something similar.
Did your vet do any bloodwork to actually determine if it truly is
kidney failure? I would get the BUN and creatinine levels checked.
The BUN should be between 8 - 37 and the creatinine should be between
0.16 - 0.84. (Acceptable blood values are listed here:
http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/part5.html#med_numbers) With the
BUN and creatinine, once the values start going above the range is
when you start thinking about the kidneys. Sometimes it can indicate
kidney failure, sometimes just severe dehydration. The vet should be
able to make that determination.
When my vet and I knew Mondo was going into kidney failure, she
suggested that I give him sub-Q fluids once a day and then twice a
day for the last week or so. It seemed to perk him up and make him
feel better, even just days before I had to help him go. The fluids
will help flush out the toxins and hopefully give her a little more
time if it truly is kidney failure. Mondo lived an extra month and a
half of QUALITY time from his fluids and I was very thankful for it.
It's an option for you if you feel comfortable with doing it. I'm
afraid of needles myself but was able to do it because he needed it.
Your vet should be able to teach you how to give subcutaneous fluids,
it's not hard. No, it won't cure her but it might help. It helped
Mondo until the day I saw it in his eyes, that he was ready to go.
Here's a site to read about giving sub-Q fluids in case you want to
know more. http://home.att.net/~The_Ferrets/subq/subqindex.html
I hope this helped... my thoughts are with you and Mary. I know it's
tough, please keep us posted...
Sincerely,
Erin