From:
"Lin"
Date: 2003-04-10 05:17:22 UTC
Subject: Kidney Question
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <000e01c2ff20$77d85da0$2602a8c0@woh.rr.com>
Hi All:Although I joined the list a few mos back, this is the first occasio=
n where I've needed to ask a question.My little girl Ariel (will be age 3 o=
n 4/20, female, spayed at 9 mos, came from a private breeder) just had expl=
oritory surgery this past Fri, & my vet & I are a little stumped.History: F=
or a few wks now, Ariel had been occasionally just crouching & shivering, a=
s through she were uncomfortable. Eating, drinking, peeing & pooping normal=
ly, & when enticed to play by my other 2 fuzzies, she would do so for a lit=
tle while. No gait problems, & no problems moving at *all*, that we could t=
ell.Previous surgeries: Left adrenal removed in Dec '01. It was enlarged, s=
lightly lumpy, but the findings were not cancerous. I'm not real knowledgab=
le about medical terminology, so I don't really recall *what* the vet said =
the problem was. Sorry 'bout that. She was spayed in Dec '00, but not desce=
nted.During the exploritory, the vet found that her right kidney was about =
2.5X the size of her left one, but other than it's size, it was completely =
normal in appearance - shape, color, blood supply looked excellent. It was =
just too big. The right kidney was inspected, & it also looked normal, just=
smaller than the other one (but the size it was supposed to be). The vet t=
ook 3 samples from the enlarged right kidney & sent them in for a biopsy. T=
he results came back today - no abnormalities. The cells looked perfectly n=
ormal.So the question is, what could cause one enlarged kidney that is tota=
lly normal looking, except for it's size?The plan right now is to let her c=
ompletely recover from this surgery, & do another ultrasound, really focusi=
ng on both kidneys. The vet said he'd expect to see an enlarged kidney if t=
he *other* kidney had some functional problem, but again, the left kidney l=
ooked fine. No, he didn't biopsy it, just the right one.Any ideas as to pos=
sibilities?Another off-the-wall question, while I'm thinking of it: Can fer=
rets catch shingles from a human? I recently came down w/ a very mild case,=
which my family dr hit hard w/ Valtrex. I asked my vet this, just out of c=
uriosity. He'd never heard anyone ask that before, & posted the question on=
the VIN (whatever that is). He said he got 3 responses, all of which were =
basically, "huh?" Since all 3 of my fuzzies haven't displayed any kind of r=
ash or anything, we assume they can't catch this, but just out of curiosity=
.......Thanks for any ideas anyone can offer on the kidney thing.Lin, Ariel=
, Oberon, & Max