Message Number: YG12648 | New FHL Archives Search
From: renee_rider
Date: 2002-04-20 20:49:00 UTC
Subject: lethargy and lymphocyte question

I took my ferret, Koto, to the emergency vet tonight because she has
been very lethargic the past couple of days. Today, she had two
poops. One was very small, black, and hard. The other was light
brown and very watery; it was a little while after I gave her
petromalt because I thought she might have a furball. Her stomach
felt hard to me tonight so I called my vet, whose answering machine
referred me to the emeergency vet. The emergency vet confirmed that
she had an enlarged spleen and some guarding. (She doesn't look in
pain to me and doesn't react when her abdomen is pressed, though she
has been gritting her teeth, which is what she does when she is
stressed.) She was a little dehydrated, so they gave her sub-Q
fluid and took an X-ray. The vet said that it was hard to makeout
the stomach and other abdominal organs on the X-ray, which usually
indicates abdominal fluid. There were some normal looking bowel
loops, however. She did not see any dilated bowel loops, so she
thought a foreign body weas unlikely. She tapped the abdomen and
got red fluid. Under the microscope she saw lymphocytes but not
neutrophils. She said she saw a couple of mitotic figures butwasn't
sure if the lymphocytes were aggressive. She suggested it could be
lymphoma. She souldn't get a blood glucose because of the
dehydration. Since she is not very experienced with ferrets, I'm
not sure how much faith to have in that guess. Koto had a check-up
a week ago for her distemper shot at which nothing unusual was
noted. She got the shot without reaction and a stool test was
negative. At the vet's tonight, Koto perked up a little with the
fluid, but not much. The vet said there was nothing more she could
or would do tonight except nursing care. I took Koto and the X-rays
home, and I am now giving her petromalt, water, and duck soup. I'll
try to get in touch with my vet tomorrow. Any thoughts or ideas on
what is going on or what to do would be appreciated.

A couple of pieces of history may or may not be relevant. One of
her cage mates died of an adrenal tumor 2-3 weeks ago, which is why
we initally attributed her lethargy to being sad, and her other two
cagemates look normal. We have another cage with two ferrets in
it. One of them, a 3 year old perfectly healthy girl, died suddenly
Monday night; we don't know from what as she had been fine the day
before. The ferrets had ear mites a while ago, so they got
Tresaderm for 10 days and then every 3 days. They got a dose on
Monday and Thursday. Tomorrow is supposed to be the last dose. I
don't know if this is connected or not.

Thanks,

Renee