From:
sukieferret
Date: 2002-05-27 16:10:00 UTC
Subject: Re: insulinoma pancreus failure/liver cancer? help.
Please, don't beat yourself over this. The ferret sounds like she
is dealing with things that are not very usual compared to how
the symptoms looked, and your vets are learning. Vets have so
many animals to know and that can cause inadvertent problems.
The info in these sites may help you. I certainly hope so.
I am sorry to learn that there might be such serious problems.
Best of luck to you!
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/Clin_Path/ClinPath.html
Especially:
>Probably the most common misinterpretation that I see on a
routine basis is in the area of hepatic >enzymes. Remember,
that the ferret, being by nature an obligate carnivore, has an
extremely short >digestive tract, and requires meals as often as
every four to six hours. Should food not be available, it >
possesses the ability to quickly mobilize peripheral fat stores in
order to meet energy requirements. >When this physiologic
mechanism is activated, the liver is literally flooded with fat,
which results in >hepatocellular swelling which may be marked.
The result of this swelling is the leakage of membrane >
enzymes such as alanine aminotransferase, and as the
hepatocellular swelling increases, occlusion of >bile canaliculi
occurs, resulting, over time, in elevation of alkaline
phosphatase.
>In conjunction with this physiologic change, elevations of ALT
up to 800 mg/dl can be seen, and alkaline >phosphatase up to
approximately 100 mg/dl. This often causes confusion to
practitioners, who render >an erroneous diagnosis of
unspecified hepatic disease. However, hepatic disease is quite
uncommon in >this species; the most common cause of true
hepatic disease in the ferret is neoplasia, with >lymphosarcoma
causing 95% of cases. Rarely bacterial infections of the liver or
biliary tree may be seen.
>The diagnosis of hepatic disease in the ferret must be based
not only on ALT and alkaline phosphatase, >but other clinical
indicators in the CBC and chem panel. Clinical elevation of
icterus or an elevated >bilirubin is an excellent indicatior of
primary hepatic disease, or concomitant leukocytosis or pyrexia
>may lend additional credence to a diagnosis of primary hepatic
disease.
and
http://www.lbah.com/Ferrets/ferretcancer.htm