From:
ferretsonly
Date: 2002-05-10 10:00:00 UTC
Subject: Re: heavy breather
Cecilia,
> My heart is heavy today.
I'm sorry that your fuzzy has heart disease. I've had a boatload of
ferrets with heart disease too. Based on my experience with my
ferrets over the last 14 years, I will tell you that I would much
rather have a ferret diagnosed with heart disease than lymphoma!
> has put her on 0.16ml of Lasix liquid 2x a day forever.
This dose may need to change frequently depending upon fluid
retention. Fluid buildup can cause pneumonia and make it harder for
the ferret to breathe. This dose is only 8mg per day. I've had
ferrets on as much as 44mg a day. Get regular checkups.
> He said we caught it
> early - before she bloated up from all the fluid retention.
I suspect that your ferret could benefit from other heart medicines.
I have never had a ferret only on lasix. The ferret can probably
benefit from drugs like enacard or digoxin. These are potent drugs
and you need to watch for side effects.
> He says forever is only as much as a year though.
I hate to disagree with your vet but my results are different.
Schultz died Tuesday - 32 months after his diagnosis. Cinnamon died 6
years (!) after being diagnosed with a heart murmur and almost 3
years after requiring medications. Amber died after almost 3 years on
heart meds too. Dancing Bear died 30 months after being started on
huge doses of lasix for fluid retention (he died of hepatitis not
heart disease). I could give you a dozen other examples but these are
recent kids.
Don't lose hope and please get more information about the meds that
can help now while it's still early! I suspect you can find a heart
specialist that can tell your vet what meds would help.
-Carla