Message Number: YG12283 | New FHL Archives Search
From: dr_bruce_williams
Date: 2002-04-04 23:16:00 UTC
Subject: Re: comments from vets please

Dear Marie:

My assessment based on this report and your clinical description is
that Mingo died of overwhelming sepsis. Certainly with the gross
description of a very inflamed abdomen, the intestine is the most
likely culprit. The necrosis and infarction seen in other organs is
likely due to sepsis, which can in some cases trigger the formation
of clots in a wide range of organs. When a clot forms in a large
blood vessels, it cuts off the blood supply, and the tissue infarcts
(dies due to lack of oxygen)

What caused the original lesion in the intestine - well that's the
hard part. Could it have been a blockage, or perhaps a perforation
from a tiny bone fragment which continued to get worse.

A common phenomenonwith gut perforation is that the animal feels
terrible pain up until the perforation, due to pressure and flud
buildup proximal to the blockage. When the gut finally ruptures, the
animal actually feels much better, having gotten rid of the gas and
material in the stomach. However, this same material is now pouring
into the abdominal cavity with all of the bacteria to be found in the
gut as well, and the countdown begins to a life-threatening
peritonitis.

I can't be sure that this is what happened to Mingo, but it is a
likely scenario based on the report.

With kindest regards,

Bruce Williams, DVM





--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Marie Bartholdsson"
<mariebartholdsson@h...> wrote:
> Not long ago one of my ferrets died. I recently received the test
results
> from the pathologist. Could any of the vets please comment on this,
what
> could have caused the illness?
>
> The ferret, Mingo, was a breeding hob and he was 4 years and 10
months when
> he died. Until 6 days before his death he had been apparently
healthy, no
> medical problems at all. He was in good physical shape (actually a
lot
> fitter than many of my other ferrets) and was eating and drinking
normally
> with normal stools and urine. He was kept on a natural diet
consisting of raw meat and bones, organs and
> whole carcasses (I have successfully kept ferrets on this diet for
a long
> time so his illness is not likely to be diet related).
>
> The first symptom in the evening March 14 was that he didn't seem
quite
> himself, a little tired and withdrawn and poor appetite. The
following
> morning he improved and ate with good appetite. But in the evening
he
> suddenly lost some control over his hind legs and had difficulties
walking.
> Because it was weekend no vet nearby was available. During the
Saturday and
> Sunday he would sometimes seem nearly totally paralysed only to be
able to
> walk almost normally just a few moments later. He continued to eat
with good
> appetite and there was no change in stools or urine until late
Sunday night
> when he passed a small amount of fresh blood. After that he stopped
eating.
> During the night he had normal stools mixed with small amounts of
fresh
> blood.
>
> Monday morning we went to the vet. His symptoms were his wobbly
hind legs,
> fever, the bloody stools during the night, and an enlarged right
testicle.
> > During the day (Monday) he actually did improve a bit and ate a
small meal.
> But late at night he got much worse and there was no normal stools
anymore,
> only fresh blood and he was bleeding so much I thought he would
bleed to
> death. Despite his terrible condition he didn't seem to be in any
discomfort
> or pain, he even ate a little only 30 minutes before he died. In
the end
> there was a small but noticeable swelling of the abdomen. And then
he died.
>
> The necropsy revealed a small amount of fluid and stools in the
abdomen
> apparently caused by a ruptured bowel.
> The whole abdomen was severely inflamed and the only organ
seemingly not
> affected was the liver which looked perfectly healthy.
> The small intestine had ruptured about 25-30 cm from the rectum.
The
> ruptured section looked diseased, it was distended, transparent and
all the
> internal lining of the intestine seemed to have been lost.
> The spleen was about 12 cm in length and weighed 24 g. It looked
inflamed
> and diseased with necrotic sections.
> Left kidney was enlarged (3.9 x 2.2 cm, 8 g) and there seemed to
have been
> hemorrhaging within the tissue. Right kidney was normal size (3.2 x
1.8 cm,
> 4 g) but had a small area with hemorrhaging.
> The stomach showed small circular gastric ulcers.
> Right testis was enlarged.
>
> Only tissue from the apparently affected organs was submitted to
the
> pathologist for testing:
> Kidneys, stomach, spleen, testicles, pancreas and the affected
portion of
> the intestines.
> I have tried to translate the test results from Swedish to,
hopefully,
> fairly correct English:
>
> "SPLEEN: Severe extramedullary hemopoiesis with widespread necrosis
and
> hemorrhagic infarct with spleen rupture and demarcation of
neutrophilic
> granulocytes.
> KIDNEY: Multiple hemorrhagic infarct with widespread necrosis and
> hemorrhaging and demarcation of granulocytes.
> PANCREAS: Severe necrotising pancreatitis with pronounced
steatitis,
> accessory nodules of spleen tissue in the fat tissue.
> INTESTINE: Infarction of sections of the small intestine with total
necrosis
> of the mucosa and ruptured intestine. Presence of thrombosis and
> hemorrhaging. Severe inflammation with massive infiltration of
predominantly
> lymphocytes in the submucosa in the connecting sections of duodenum.
> STOMACH: Severe chronic ulcerating erosive gastritis with massive
> infiltration of lymphocytes in the mucosa and submucosa.
> TESTIS: (right) Widespread necrosis in one section probably
infarction with
> severe purulent inflammation. Chronic orchitis with some
granulation. Left
> testis normal.
>
> SUMMARY: Extramedullary hemopoiesis in the spleen and multiple
infarctions
> in spleen and kidney. Necrotising pancreatitis and steatitis.
Infarction of
> small intestine. Ulcerous gastritis.
>
> COMMENT: Severe changes in several organs probably associated with
a
> coagulation disorder with infarction, and possibly associated with
bone
> marrow disorder. The submitted material have been searched for
tumour cells
> but none were found."
>
> Marie
>
>
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger:
http://messenger.msn.com