Message Number: SG2619 | New FHL Archives Search
From: williamsdvm@comcast.net
Date: 2002-12-18 01:49:48 UTC
Subject: RE: liver
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <523501.1040176188568.JavaMail.root@scandium>

John: Danee is correct in that adrenal disease may be a cause of the symptoms that you are noticing, even though he is only a year old. Young, but not too young.

Regarding the liver: You have mentioned two things that can result in elevated liver enzymes - a ferret not eating, and anti-inflammatory steroid injections. Both cause marked increase in hepatic enzymes. I would think that a combination of those is far more likely than a liver infection (primary liver disease is extremely uncommon in ferrets, especially the young ones.

With kindest regards,

Bruce Williams, DVM

Author wrote:
> My one year old ferret had been scratching and a bold patch appeared he saw my vet and was given, stronghold and a anti- inflammatory jab. After one week he had stopped eating, he had an x-ray, scan and a blood test, it showed his liver values were at 1000 after one week of antibiotics it was down to 400 two more weeks of antibiotics and it was back to normal, i had him tested one more time to make sure he was ok three weeks later and it was normal that was three days ago
> problem one is, he is castrated but he smells more then he did, could this be because of the liver infection or the bob's chicken gravy i have given him for the last two months his normal diet is dry and chicks i have not used the gravy for so long.
> problem two is he is still scratching not as much as he was but more then normal, could this be because of the liver problem he had and it will take time to clear up if not its back to the vets if its unrelated to the liver
> any help appreciated
> John