From:
zus888
Date: 2002-04-23 13:16:00 UTC
Subject: Re: IBD Treatments
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "penniep2001" <ppaulik1@t...> wrote:
<I have a four year old 2.6 lb male nutered ferret....began throwing
up his food and was unable to keep anything down....The [Dr. Burgess]
article seems to suggest that Imuron should be used in place of
prednison. However one of the vets at the practice I use(not my
regular vet) contacted a "exotic"expert who told her to use
the .3mg/kg of Imuron but to give it every other day and alternate
with prednisone. I need to know what the vets on the list think of
the dosage frequency and other medications being added or any
experience others have with this therapy?>
Two of my ferrets were diagnosed with IBD; however, the symptoms they
displayed were very different than the ones yours is displaying. It
was the other end having the problems, if you know what I mean. For
one, we only needed to use pediapred to get the IBD under control.
For the other, we used pediapred in conjunction with Imuran. I do
not recall what the concentration of the Imuran was, but we gave her
very little amounts of it -- something along the lines of 0.1 ml
every other day. There's probably more accurate information in the
archives under my "name" (zus888). Those posts would have been
written at a time when my memory was more fresh.
When we started the protocol, we were told that there was a
possibility that they may be on medication for the remainder of their
lives in order to control the IBD. Luckily, both were weaned off the
medications and have been IBD-free for almost a year. One thing I do
recall is that Imuran comes with possible serious side effects (like
any medication), and blood levels (of what, I do not know) need to be
monitored regularly. FYI, the reasoning behind using both drugs (for
my vet) was that the possibility or severity of side effects of each
drug would be reduced since the dosage of each drug could be
reduced. Hopefully, that makes sense. If you have any other
questions that I might be able to help you with, feel free to email
me privately.
Suzanna