From:
steph@cosmicglue.com
Date: 2002-09-24 09:10:15 UTC
Subject: Need help with Ferret on Chemo - Blockage?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <32560343.1032858615809.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Hi all,
Well I might have made a mistake, but I'm not sure, I would love some suggestions while I wait for the morning to get my girl to the vet.
For about a month, my female ferret Nyla has been on Chemo (leukeran) and pred for lymphoma that was diagnosed when her spleen was removed a few months ago. She was doing ok and her nodes had completely reverted to normal, but she began to lose a lot of weight which I was warned about. She also was tired some days then fine the next. For about the past 2 weeks she's been getting progressivly skinnier and more lethargic. She has become just skin and bones, so I have been feeding her chicken gravy with her chemo and pred. I did take her to the vet and they said that it was probably nausea and/or ulcer from the chemo and gave us some carafate which we used and then ran out of, but didn't seem to help that much. She started to grind her teeth the other day and has been showing signs of nausea (digging and rubbing face)which we were told might be a side effect of the chemo. She was not eating very much.
So, last night I looked around for some suggestions on giving her food to help her regain weight. I read that adding whipping cream might help. I started adding a bit of cream to her chicken this morning and she was eating it up like it was going out of style. Tonight she is very lethergic and has been vomiting. Her stool is also thin/skinny (I'm really thinking blockage here) and very little comes out, but she is going about every 10 minutes with success in passing small amounts. The stool is light colored (same exact color as when it went in) and mucusy. Have I made her sick from the cream? She seems very uncomfortable. Since she wasn't eating much before she did not have much stool. Now I'm thinking all this was a sign of blockage from the begining. Does this sound like a blockage or sickness from the cream? Tonight is the first time I've seen her trying to vomit since begining the chemo, but she did show sign of nausea earlier in her treatment.
Thanks so much in advance,
Stephanie
With Maggie, Bullwinkle, Shasta, Nanook and Nyla
Missing with all my heart Ichabod and Emeline