From:
ferretkrazi
Date: 2002-02-15 14:35:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Ref's hind end paralysis
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "finneous" <ferret@i...> wrote:
> Here is his Blood Work.....
>
> Ref's Blood Work
>
> BUN 66*
> CRE 3.1*
Hi Py, I'm sorry that Ref isn't doing very well. It's so hard to see
them with paralysis problems. The usual disclaimers apply here of
course, I'm not a vet, not even a vet tech... but I wanted to mention
something that immediately concerned me when I saw the blood work.
The BUN and Creatinine levels are definitely high. Normal BUN should
be around 8 - 37 and normal creatinine is 0.16 - 0.84 (normals are
listed here:
http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/part5.html#med_numbers) These
values indicate kidney function. Is he severely dehydrated?
Dehydration can cause the numbers to increase. I don't mean to cause
panic, but these numbers can also be high from kidney (renal)
failure. I would suggest speaking with your vet as soon as possible
to see if you can give him treatments of subcutaneous fluids. The
fluids can be given to help flush the kidneys to try and get those
numbers down. (But be careful if he has concurrent health problems
such as cardiomyopathy, ADDING fluid can be dangerous if he's already
on meds to pull the fluid away.) I had a little one in chronic renal
failure with numbers high like Ref's. Daily sub-Q fluids were very
helpful. He usually received 20 ccs of fluids once, sometimes twice
a day. Elevated BUN and creatinine like this can make them feel very
sick and not very interested in anything, including food. Please be
sure he's eating enough (kibble, soup, etc) to help maintain his
weight.
As for his bowels, the only suggestion I can make is to use Puppy
Pads (used for housebreaking in puppies) in place of a litter box. I
had a partially paralyzed ferret who used them for a while since he
too was having problems controlling himself. He couldn't feel much
back there, so I don't think he realized when it was time to "go."
The puppy pads helped, though I had to change them 2, 3 sometimes 4
times a day. Be patient, that helps. There were many days I went
through 2 or 3 changes of cage bedding too.
I hope that Ref is only dehydrated and that those kidney values will
come back down with the administration of fluids. Maybe one of the
vets on here will be able to see something different in the blood
work that you presented. I would really love to be wrong since I'm
not actually a trained vet or anything. I will keep you both in my
thoughts... please, let us know how he's doing.
Sincerely,
Erin Simkins