From:
russians_mom
Date: 2002-06-09 21:38:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Ferrets Not Getting Better: Seek advice of Vets and
experienced others
I hate to sound like Aleutian disease is all I can talk about, but
have you had them tested?
All of mine that have clinical Aleutian disease began by going
through what your two are going through. This does not, of course,
mean they *must* have ADV. There are quite a few illnesses that have
similar symptoms.
Have you had any blood work done on them? I would think a complete
blood panel would be very beneficial. Check for total protein and
gamma globulin elevations, and low albumin. A complete blood work up
would also show if their eosinophils are elevated. If they are, it
could very well be eosinophilic gastroenteritis. It wouldn't hurt to
have x-rays taken just to rule out heart disease, which can also
cause severe weight loss.
It also could be IBD. Dr. Burgess, who apparently sees a lot of
ferrets with IBD, prescribes 2 weeks of flagyl followed by Imuran.
The Imuran should be given every 3 days to start. If there's no
improvement, then every other day and, finally, every day if
necessary. You should start them on pediapred right away, as well as
Imuran as it can take the Imuran several weeks to begin reducing the
inflammation. There was an excellent article by Dr. Williams in a
recent "Ferrets Magazine". Unfortunately, the only way to accurately
diagnose IBD is through an intestinal biopsy.
I've also found that giving Carafate about an hour after meds and
eating seems to help them feel a bit better.
The treatment is the same if it is Aleutian disease. Both are severe
inflammatory diseases.
Judy
http://www.geocities.com/russiansmom/