From:
ferretlove_uk
Date: 2002-01-01 10:54:00 UTC
Subject: Very sick, weak and anaemic ferret, please help
Hello
My friend's ferret is very sick. Vicky was diagnosed with insulinoma
about 3-4 months ago, she eats chicken so her blood sugars were
controlled with the food. My friend had problems feeding Vicky as
she was very fussy about her food and would only eat the chicken that
I do so Vicky kept loosing weight but I had her twice while my friend
went on holiday so managed to get Vicky's weight back up. Last
Thursday my friend came to see us (we were grinding chicken for her)
and brought Vicky who had lost a lot of weight again. I tried to
feed Vicky but she didn't even want to eat the food that I offered
even though in the past she couldn't get enough of it and would eat
huge amounts.
Today I got a call from my friend that Vicky was dying. She said
that there was blood in the toilet, Vicky's stools are black and
there was lots of blood in the toilet. The vets where my friend
lives are useless so I told her to bring Vicky here and we'd go to my
vets who always have an emergency vet on. Vicky had stopped eating,
my friend tried everything but any solid food and Vicky would vomit
it back up, even the chicken that I did... My friend did chicken
stock for her but Vicky wouldn't even take that. Vicky went to the
toilet here, the urine looks fine, the stool was very small and
black. She is extremely weak and so thin, she went downhill a lot
since I saw her last Thursday. Her gums and nose are white. I
managed to get her to eat about 10cc of a liquid cat diet that I have
here in case a ferret stops eating and Vicky kept that down. We took
her to the vets, he couldn't feel any foreign body in her intestines
and then gave her about 20cc of sub q fluid and a Vitamin B 12
injection.
My friend left Vicky here with me so I can look after her, nurse her
and take her to the vets again tomorrow as the vet we saw today was a
big (farm) animal vet and my normal vet is a small animal vet and has
treated a lot of my ferrets. I was just wondering whether anybody
could tell me what tests need to be done, what could be wrong with
Vicky, where the bleeding could be coming from, what we can use to
treat the anaemia. I don't know if a blood test would be wise as she
is so weak and I don't know how well she would take an anaesthetic
and then she hasn't got much blood so would it be a good idea to take
blood? I read about the Epogen, is that the brand name or generic
name? Should my vets know the drug (we are in the UK)?
Any replies will be greatly appreciated, I love Vicky as if she was
my own and really hope that it's something that we can treatÂ… Please
reply to me directly because I get the digest version of the listÂ…
From Ulrike