From:
moorgannandorf
Date: 2002-06-13 07:41:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Hard Decision - maybe not as bad as I thought...
My wife and I were going to make the decision to put Tigger asleep
today, until I read everyone's responses back to my post. I wish to
thank everyone for their advice.
Last night, I gave Tigger her regular dose of prednilosone (0.3
cc's), and she ate 1/2 a jar of baby food. She went into a stupor
after one hour, and we gave her some Karo syrrup to give her some
energy - I mean I actually had to place her in the litter box to
deficate. After the Karo syrrup she gained some energy, and around
115 AM last night I placed her food bowl next to her and she ate for
30 minutes.
This morning she drank some water on her own and used the litter box
on her own, and I gave her a few kibbles of her food. She seems to
have stopped shaking, but again I want to communicate that she didn't
have any seizures - I kept a very close eye on her. If she had a
seizure, I would have taken her to the emergency vet service in
Columbus, OH.
The closest vet that has extensive experience with ferrets is in
Barberton/Norton area in Ohio, about 90 minutes away. We have an
appointment at 1045 am, and the doctor gave me the phone number to
the pharmacy they frequently use. The diazoxide costs around $50 a
month - this is a lot better than our pharmacy who wanted $140 for
proglycem. Also, the doctor in Barberton OH said that he has a person
with a ferret who has been on diazoxide and prednisone both for 3
years.
I realize that this is an incurable disease, but if this medication
will allow her to function as a normal ferret (i.e., play time,
eating and drinking on her own volition, etc...) then it would be
definitely worth the cost. I also really don't like going over one's
opinion, but if it wasn't for Dr. Williams post, my wife and I may
have gone ahead with a terrible mistake and have put her to sleep
already.
I thank everyone again for their advice, and we will see how the
prednisone / diazoxide combination works for her after the vet
appointment tomorrow.
Larry.