From:
dr_bruce_williams
Date: 2002-01-29 16:22:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Emphysema
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Flemming Farms" <flemmingfarms@y...>
wrote:
> This may sound strange, but . . .
>
> I know of a woman that has recently had a ferret put down. He was
coughing
> hoarsely. He was put on all sorts of antibiotics as they were sure
he had
> bacterial pneumonia. They did an x-ray of his lungs. They were
hideous.
> The vet commented that they looked like the lungs of a human with
emphysema.
> His breathing became more laboured. She tried all sorts of
different
> things, but found the most humane thing to do was to put him down.
He was
> three years old. She had a full PM done on him. Upon opening the
lungs,
> the vet said the ferret had emphysema. The owner is a smoker. Has
anybody
> else seen this?
Dear Amy: I think that you would need to have a pthologist confirm
the presence of emphysema here. Emphysema is the breakdown of the
alveolar walls - the walls between the little grape-like clusters of
the air sacs.
We can actually see this finding in animals that breathe very heavily
prior to death, or those with long-term bad coughs, as you mention
here. I have seen many ferrets who belinged to smokders, and they do
indeed have excess carbon material intheir lungs, but emphysema is
not a finding.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
P.S. A good gross post is still not as good as a routine microscopic
analysis!