From:
ssiu@cgl.uwaterloo.ca
Date: 2003-02-24 15:41:20 UTC
Subject: RE: Any Promising New Rx for Lymphosarcoma?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20011363.1046101280918.JavaMail.root@scandium>
> http://www.smartgroups.com/message/readmessage.cfm?gid=1423922&messageid=3367
Sukie's post of the above to the FML caught my eye, and I
decided to respond, since this stuff has been on my mind for a while. want to share my experiences as well as ask a couple questions.
my roommate's ferret Sabre has been diagnosed with lymphoma
since last March. it actually took a long while to diagnosed
him because all his symptoms were borderline, Sabre was always a trouble maker :). he was in a really bad way initially, but we got him over with syringe feedings and fluids until the vets figured out it was lymphoma and started him on chemo. his initial treatment was l-spar and vincristine, and then alternating vincristine and chlorambucil every 2 weeks up till last november. the vincristine always makes him feel
better, and gain weight. we are not sure if the chlorambucil ever did anything useful, since after 2 or 3 weeks he seems to start losing weight and appetite a bit and then it is time for his vincristine again. his initial weight during his very bad period when we were trying to figure out what was wrong was probably around 750g or so, later he fluctuated between 850g-1000g during those montly cycles. he's a long male, so he should probably be 1500g or so. he's also adrenal and on lupron. the lupron does make him feel better and help with the weight gain.
his lymph nodes had been getting smaller and were virtually gone until november (I'm not sure if he actually went into remission, or was just close to getting into it), when he started doing a bit worst. we brought him in and it seems like lymph nodes in different spots were now enlarged. he was on l-spar a couple of times, and given epirubicin as well, and then seem to be okay so went back on vincristine and chlorambucil (late dec). the chlorambucil really wasn't doing anything, and Sabre was considered stable enough that the vets decided to try cytarabine, which had been successful in dogs and cats but not used in ferrets (for the reason that it is a series of shots given
every 12 hours, and most owners are too squeamish? to do it on such a small animal). the cytarabine didn't make Sabre any worst, we think, but he was going downhill again, so after consultation with the oncologist Sabre is now alternating between vincristine and epirubicin, every 10 days or so (blood test before each to check his WBC). he's "stable" right now with weight around 850g, really low, but his spirits are good, and he had figured out he can be as demanding as he wants so he's constantly coming up and staring at you until you give him treats
or change his water or whatever :). btw, through out all this he
started off being on chicken baby food (30cc 3x a day) until around october when we started making chicken gravy (he gets the same amount). he gained more weight with the chicken gravy. he's also been on pred from the start (initial 2cc dose, now down to 1cc), and a bunch of different antibiotics periodically.
vets have been warning us for a while that since Sabre is relapsing, his prognosis is not good and we have no idea when he will go. our best hope is that he will past peacefully in his sleep. we are really lucky that we go to university of Guelph, who have incredibly caring vets, and experts on site, since our vets consult the oncologists available almost every visit. they don't have that many ferrets on chemo, but Sabre is their miracle ferret since he's the one who has hung around the longest in all their years of experiences.
I guess I was wondering how long can ferrets lived after starting chemo therapy. what have been the experiences of the vets on this list?
also some suggestions for people, we just started this recently and wished we did it right from the start. we got the graph paper with very fine lines and basically weigh Sabre daily before his afternoon feeding. we have a kitchen scale that isn't terribly accurate (especially with a squirming ferret), and only give marks about 25g apart. but it does give us a good idea of whether he is stable or gaining or losing. and he can lose weight in just a few days. I think doing this, and charting down as well when he received the chemo and what antibiotics he is getting (if any) can help a lot in figuring out what is working and what isn't. we wished we had started this sooner.
besides the weight thing, which we started on our own, our vets also asked us to keep track of Sabre's attitude and poop and activity etc. we came up with something that we can also chart on graph paper and help us keep things objective. from best to worst, we track as follows:
food intake
1. eating kibble
2. eat gravy out of syringe on own
3. gravy scruff and stuff (easy)
4. gravy scruff and stuff (hard) - he struggles and such
5. not eating shrimp treats
6. not eating medi treats
poop (colour)
1. normal (brown)
2. not normal - we indicate colour with a colour marker
poop (consistency)
1. firm
2. soft
3. liquid
activity
1. high usually going to be medium, it is harder to be
2. medium - objective here and too many categories will just
3. low make things harder to decide
other suggestions for stuff to keep track of welcome!
we find the charting with graph paper really useful and kind of fun, and the fine lines mean we can do daily weights if a ferret is kind of down, or just every 5 days, which is what we are doing for the healthy ones. now if they come up with graph paper that separates every 7 lines instead of 5 it would be a lot nicer for charting, but we'll make do :)
hope people find the last suggestions useful.
// ***************************************
// Selina, Sprite, Sand, Bear, Dart & Clef
// in spirit - Birch, Dief & Storm
// http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~ssiu