From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2002-08-19 17:22:51 UTC
Subject: Re: How much food? Your Opinions needed. (Sorry - Long)
To: oxbowindustries@aol.com, ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-Id: <p05111702b986d766ddda@[10.0.1.28]>
>Thanks for the reply. Question: Shouldn't one of her vets have
>picked up on this? I mean she had >the surgery 5/30/02 and was
>treated the middle of June for gastric ulcers where she had
>a >check-up (no blood work). Wouldn't someone have heard something
>when checking her heart?
>Thanks
Not necessarily. That's not only because a decent bit can change in
3 months with a ferret; it's also because some things just don't show
up that way. We've had four ferrets with cardiomyopathy; only one
was found due to the heart sounding different (ventricular bigmini
for which Digoxin was her most important medication). Two were found
due to the development of ascites. One had a form that is not usual
in ferrets (hypertrophic) and her's was found due to pulling out all
stops, and doing many types of testing since she was losing weight
with no explanation and treating her heart disease, once found,
worked.
It may not be cardiomyopathy, of course, so if it could be ascites
there may be a different cause, and it may not even be ascites, so
what you really need is to arrange for a vet appointment promptly.
I'm not a vet, just a long term ferret person who has been through
that a few times.