From:
williamsb@comcast.net
Date: 2002-08-19 01:11:55 UTC
Subject: RE: Liver problems - Critical condition
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <27118670.1029719515434.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Author wrote:
> Her blood count and glucose levels are normal. She is not losing any more weight, neither is she gaining, but she is passing, and a blockage has been ruled out by x-ray. She shows highly elevated liver and kidney function. (Some kind of number 8 soemthing when normal is 1.3 or 1.5?) They have administered injections of anti-biotic, and when I visited her tonight, she had lost a degree in body temp, but was able to raise her head, though wobbly, and try to look at me.
> The vet gave several possibilities, including an infection in the liver, lymphoscarcoma (said there were no other symptoms of this,) cardiomyopathy (said the heart looked good on the x-rays so he doubted it,) liver shunt, (said he'd never heard of this in ferrets,) or an alergic reaction to the metronidazol, (Also never heard of this in ferrets.) At this point, Tasha is in the incubator at the hosbital, and he believes all that can be done is make sure she gets food and water, he thinks continuing antibiotics is a good idea, and hope the kidney and liver function normalize.
I will have to say that unfortunately, without the specifics on the liver enzymes, I am unable to comment on it - is the bilirubin the 8 value? or is it the creatinine? (one indicates liver problems, one kidney.
The other thing that I would say is that an X-ray only identifies about 10% of foreign bodies - contrast studies, such as barium - only pick up about 30%. Many foreign bodies are not identified by X-rays at all.
I wish I could be more specific on this one, but I just don't have enough info here.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM