From:
pjdutche@email.unc.edu
Date: 2003-03-26 19:25:37 UTC
Subject: RE: Help !!! Jesse may have heart worms
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <21576145.1048706737048.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Anna,
This is a little confusing - I guess something led your vet to mention heartworms as a possibility? Anemia by itself is too general to make me think "heartworms." There is a blood test (the Idex snap test) that can be done to test for them, though, so maybe that's what was done?
Heartworms are more common in some areas than in others. In areas with heartworms, even ferrets that are kept indoors can get them since mosquitos can fly inside and bite the ferrets.
Yes, there is treatment if it is heartworms, but it's risky. Left untreated, though, it's almost certainly going to be fatal. The best authority I know of for heartworms in ferrets is Dr. Kemmerer in Florida. A lot of great info by her covering prevention, diagnosis, and treatment is posted on Mike Janke's site at:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/heartworm.htm
Definitely let us know what shows up on tomorrow's tests...
Best wishes,
-Pam S.