From:
ssiu@cgl.uwaterloo.ca
Date: 2002-04-06 05:41:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Sabre: lymphoma, syringe feeding
[moderator's note: 3 posts combined into one.]
> I'm taking care of my friend's ferret Sabre right now while my
> friend is away for a week. a few days before she left, Sabre was
> diagnosed with possible lymphoma or an infection due to his
> enlarged lymph nodes and greeny poop. he was put on an antibiotic
> and started improving, so we thought it was an infection,
> especially since another ferret stopped eating and had similar
> diarrhea, and he bounced back a day after we put him on antibiotics.
> all this was last week.
>
> however, Sabre started refusing to eat this past tuesday night, and
> got a bit dehydrated, so I took him to the vet on wednesday and
> they gave him fluids, his lymph nodes were also larger than they
> were. I took him back again on thursday and they kept him overnight,
> he still had greeny poop, so they took samples to culture,
> gave him stronger antibiotics, and started him on chemo (the drug
> they gave him is non-toxic, and is supposed to get rid of one
> of two types of lymphoma cells, can't recall exactly, but I think
> it wasn't the t-type).
>
> more history. Sabre probably stopped eating his regular kibble
> about a month ago, and at that time we had reason to believe it was
> a teeth problem, and had scheduled an appointment for that. he
> was eating baby food then. now he's not really in the mood for
> most foods, he'll take a couple of licks off your finger but barely
> gets anything in. about the only thing he's enthusiastic about
> is ferretone, and if I give him 2 hard treats (these are fairly
> healthy treats), he'll crunch them up and maybe about 1 gets inside
> him. when he wasn't eating well tuesday night and didn't want
> to drink, I syringed feed him 3cc's of water and he threw up
> a few times later. that was probably why he got more dehydrated.
>
> I was at Ferrets 2002, and was reading Troy-Lynn's feeding sick
> ferrets brochure, which says to feed about 60cc per pound. right
> now Sabre is around 2lbs, but he's a long ferret and probably should
> be around 3. 120cc seems like an impossible task. since he came
> home last night, I have fed him twice for a total of 11cc's and 2
> treats, and he struggles after every drop. I'm about to feed him
> again and I'll probably try for a bit more this time. I was planning
> on feeding him every 3-4 hours (around the clock), but now am
> wondering if I should up it to every 2, hoping to get 10ccs into
> him each time but not sure since he is struggling a fair bit and
> I don't want to force him too much. he also has to get an injectable
> antibiotic and a horrible tasting syringe one twice a day.
>
> btw, Sabre's just over 3 years old. prior to tuesday, he was also
> drinking Timmy's tonic, but now he won't touch it. he's got enough
> energy to run away from food, and varies from being not very
> alert to looking a bit brighter, our vets think he's going up and
> down a bit. his next vet appointment will probably be the coming
> friday.
>
> I hope my babbling is not too incoherent, I guess I'm looking for
> advice on syringe feeding (how much per day, how often) and what
> other treatments for lymphoma people have used (regular and holistic).
> any suggestions that I should discuss with our vets (we are going
> to the clinic at the U of Guelph, who we think is pretty terrific).
> I read lymphoma should always be given a poor prognosis, and since
> the discovery is so late, we are doubly worried. will clutch at
> any straw.
>
> thanx for taking the time.
I forgot to mention what I was feeding him. I just managed to
get him to eat another 4cc of heinz chicken baby food, and
2cc of half chicken baby food and half water. he licked a bit
off a spoon in addition. I'm alternating between Eukanuba
Maxi-Cal, which is what the vet gave me, he liked the taste of
that a tad more, but it doesn't mix well with water. I also
tried a bit of cats milk, he took a few sips of that, so I
will probably buy some whipping cream and see how much of that
he takes, as well as try ensure type drinks.
when I'm feeding him, what I have to do is scruff him, and then
put the syringe at the side of his mouth, he opens sooner or
later. I probably get in less than 0.05cc each time. after a
few times we take a little break and I just pat him. he struggles
quite a bit every now and then. when he's struggling all the
time, I stop. I guess another concern is if I try to feed him
every couple of hours, is he going to get enough sleep?
I've had ferrets since 1994, but this is the first time I've
to deal with a sick ferret who need to be force fed. I have
no idea how long force feeding like this can continue. my
roommate is at a place where I can't contact her except via
emergency phones, and since she won't be able to come back
earlier anyways I don't see the point of worrying her. but
she won't be back till tuesday and I'm worried that Sabre
will get worst
one more thing I forgot to mention is that Sabre is on Lupron.
all the adrenal tests he had was borderline, ultrasound was
large side of normal but when we put him on the Lupron, he
started gaining weight so we figure he's adrenal. that was about
half a year ago.
// ************************************************
// Selina, Birch, Dief, Sprite, Sand and Bear
// missing Storm
// http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~ssiu