From:
nicole@mb-law.com
Date: 2002-08-14 22:08:48 UTC
Subject: hypercalcemia (still) - Now What??
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <16852917.1029362928799.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Dr. Williams, if you get a chance to read this, THANK GOD YOU'RE BACK!
I posted previously about Snidely. In May, he went off his regular food, lost nearly a pound and had no energy. In other words, he exhibited every sign of "general illness". His vet drew blood:
ALB 2.6
ALKP 74
ALT 258
AMYL 32
BUN 13.9
CHOL 212.6
CREA .73
GLU 120.3
PHOS 3.23
TBIL 6.08
GLOB 3.60
Na 156.9
K 4.58
Cl 123.5
calcium 14.0
Weight 1.8 lbs
No diagnosis was attempted at that time. Instead, I was instructed to encourage his eating and return later for another (more complete) test.
In June I started him on turkey baby food and cream, which he would eat small amounts of on his own. His poops became yellow and the texture of thick foam.
Though I never saw him vomit or paw at his mouth, he did have signs of redness and irritation on the roof of his mouth.
In early July, he was put on .2 ml of prednisone once daily for 10 days. I noticed a dramatic change in appetite and increase in weight, almost immediately.
August 1, we returned to the vet. I was very concerned about the "weight" he gained. It was fluidy and not smoothly distributed about his body (hard to describe). He looked like he was carrying small water sacks above his knees that seemed to lap over. His blood was drawn again:
Hemoglobin 9.1
Hematocrit 29.8
WBC 4.2
RBC 5.33
MCV 56
MCH 17.1
MCHC 30.5
Platelet Count: 681
Estimate increased
Diff:
Neutro 3318 79%
Bands 0
Lympho 630 15%
Mono 210 5%
Eosin 42 1
Baso 0
Glu 119
Urea Nitro 13
Creatine 1.3
TP 5.5
ALB 2.8
Tot Bili .1
Alk Phos 57
ALT (SCPT) 136
AST (SGOT) 64
Cholesterol 215
Calcium 14
Phos 4.6
Sodium 140
Potassium 3.9
Chloride 112
Glubulin 2.7
CPK 239
Unfortunately, I am now in slight disagreement with the vet. From these results, she fears his problems stem from failing kidneys. My fear is that his kidneys are beginning to fail because we are not correcting the hypercalcemia (or cause thereof). The initial blood, done in May, did not indicate kidney failure.
On the outside, Snidely looks good. He has a nice shiny coat and bright clear eyes and still finds fuzzy cat mice interesting. He just doesn't have the energy a 3 yr old ferret should have.
What can I do now? I do not want to continue on, treating symptoms while letting the true enemy go unrecognized.
Does it look like lymphoma? He doesn't have any enlarged nodes, but... do we try to biopsy anyway.
We are all stumped by this one and I need to find a way to help Snide.
Thanks !!
- Nicole
(sorry about the length)