From:
courtney.leborious@aoltw.com
Date: 2002-11-13 19:04:24 UTC
Subject: urgent - please please help !!!!!!!!!!!!!
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <5195164.1037214264022.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Can you please help?
Our ferret recently went into sudden renal failure. Her blood measurements (BUN, creatanin, and phosphorous) were all in the normal range, and during her stay at the vet, in the course of 3 days, they tripled -- this was an acute case, but the vet could not reverse with fluid therapy (IV and Sub Q). He sent her home with advice to make her comfortable -- PLEASE HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BRIEF MEDICAL HISTORY:
We have a lovely, sweet female ferret named Puppy, who is about to turn 6. She has been on a special gruel which consists of Deliver 2.0, an egg, ferretone, and Totally Ferret for about 3 months.
She was diagnosed with very, very early stages of insulinoma. Her Blood Glucose level borderline low, but still ok. Puppy never received any medication at all until 3 months ago, and even then at a low dose. I gave her a very, very low dose of prednisone (prelone) about .05 mgs/day. She was having bouts of diarrhea with very loose stools, which were at times mucousy and green or yellow. Other times they were seedy but did not return to normal healthy stools. Though I was reluctant to give her the duck soup / gruel because she was still eating her old food, the vet suggested this because she is very thin - though she has always been a bit on the slim side.
Well, she recently started to refuse the gruel, was perhaps a bit nauseous, which could have been because we lowered the prednisone a bit, and when we only got a little food into her on Sunday and Monday, we decided to bring her to the vet at once. We brought her in on Tuesday and he suggested that she stay for 2-3 days to put a bit of weight on and get some fluids in her.
But after four days of treatment (she was getting a fluid therapy, an antibiotic, tagamet, prednisone, and Flagyl or metronidazole) -- her BUN and other readings shot way up, inexplicably. Her BUN is was, on Tuesday, in the 30s (normal range), and went up to 137 on Thursday night!!! Phospphorous and creatanin tripled as well.
What happened?
RENAL FAILURE --- HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She was doing ok, until Friday when she started to go into renal failure. On Tuesday when she was admitted, all blood readings related to kidney function (BUN, phosphorous, etc) were within the normal range.
On Friday, when renal failure began, the vet thought she was having an episode of a brain abnormality, perhaps that was a stroke. She was tested for Aleutian, she is clear. Her blood glucose is still around 80, ok. While at the vet, she was teeth grinding often and was so nauseous when she ate, seems better at home. She is still walking and running around, but less energetic and her eyes can zone out every once in a while. The vet stopped giving her the flagyl, for her diarrhea right away (which I would not have wanted her to have in the first place). She was still on an antibiotic, tagamet, and prednisone from Sunday - Tuesday. In addition she was being treated with Alternagel to lower the phosphorous.
After a scary weekend, the vet thought we may lose her. However, she was doing a bit better when we saw her on Sunday, and the vet suggested that we keep her there for two more days (until Tuesday) and continue to push fluids to lower the buildup of urea in the kidneys. We trusted his judgment, but I have no idea how her blood work indicated the kidney related functions (BUN skyrocketed) went into failure SO QUICKLY.
TREATMENT - FAILED
Last night, after a few days of post-renal failure fluid therapy, her BUN and phosphorous and creatinin readings remained the same. Others were out of whack as well, such as white and red blood cell counts and platelets were down. The vet advised us to: stop fluid therapy (we were going to learn how to administer sub-Q at home) and continue to feed gruel (which is high protein and complicates the kidney trouble) and stop all other meds except prednisone.
Basically, he said to make her comfortable, that she only has about a week to live.
One reason I still have hope is because this was so sudden and not progressive. She was in the normal range for BUN (around 30s), phosphorous, and creatinin when her blood was run on Tuesday, then on Friday when they noticed the renal failure her BUN was up to 137 and phosphorous and creatinin had doubled (in only a few days). I am also wondering if she got the full benefit of the fluid therapy, as according the bill... she was getting IVs (which she ripped out) until Sunday, and only started on the Sub cutaneous (under skin) fluid on Monday, and then had her blood tested on Tuesday morning. In other words, this was not a true reading after many days of Sub-Q therapy, unless they were giving it to her all along and not charging.
We, of course, do not want to cause our baby extra pain. Please help us. We am not prepared to give up. Are there any other solutions for an acute incidence of kidney failure such as this?
She is our angel lady and we love her -- we want her all better.
Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Courtney LeBorious & Merritt Robertson