From:
rtrsek@charter.net
Date: 2003-06-22 04:56:45 UTC
Subject: RE: Help !!! - Swollen feet and fever
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1001735.1056257805587.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Four days and ~1500 bucks later, we have our boy back (tests, IV's, drugs, hotels, repeated overnight care at an emergency clinic). Thank all of you for your help this week. Baxter is doing much better now. We still haven't ruled out lymphoma / liver cancer, but the antibiotics combined with pred. seems to have done the trick fornow. He was on an IV for 3 days, and his fever remained for the first two days on and off. The swelling got worse before it gotbetter, but his feet are pretty much back to normal now. The front paws are still a bit enlarged due to the tight wrap for the IV's he had, but otherwise he looks good. His bloodwork showed elevated white count, low glucose and anemia. We knew about the anemia from his previous adrenal tests, and he's been on .3cc petenic twice a day as a supplement. The glucose is in question due to the delay/lab. The elevated white count led our vet to believe it was
simply an infection. Another Xray of his heart didn't show anything unusual, and we still haven't had an ultrasound done. Dr xxxxxxx recommended against the pred., but at the time he didn't know about the low glucose indicated in his blood test- he was simply advising by phone. For now we are finishing up the Clavamox antibiotic and continuing the pred. until we are sure his blood sugar is ok. We've been able to stop force-feeding as he's eating on his own again. Since regaining his mobility he can use the litter box too. He's even playing again! Thanks again to all of you for your help, advice and veterinary contacts. All the vets agreed on the course of action with antibiotics and IV fluids. For your reference, some of the responses I received from people (not necessarily
vets) indicated a similar unexplained fever and swelling in all four feet for the following reasons - most of these came back from shelters that see a lot of ferrets annually. I am not a vet!
Lymphoma
Liver Failure
Kidney Failure
Fluid around the heart
Distemper
Blood platlet anomoly
Stroke - nothing in bloodwork, EKG revealed this
(ferretlandusa@1funplace.com)
Spider Bite
Rob & Becky Trsek
Alamogordo NM