From:
julie_fossa@yahoo.com
Date: 2003-08-02 18:58:08 UTC
Subject: RE: Bruising
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <186398.1059850688707.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
I originally had her blood
> drawn to test for Adrenal and am awaiting the results.
> If you don't mind me asking, what was the cause of your ferret's low
> platelet count and how did you deal with future blood draws? Did
> vaccinations (injections) cause any problems?
> I'm sorry you and your little guy had to deal with this.
>
Bandit had been thin and tired over the summer, and exhibiting some adrenal signs; thinning coat. He had bulked up a bit for the winter so I decided to get his adrenal surgery while he seemed to be doing better. He was a month shy of 4 years old.
As soon as the abdominal incision was made, there was an abnormal amount of bleeding from the skin. As my vet began to look thru the organs, there was substantial bruising in the tissues. He decided to stop looking and close Bandit up. One point to make here, is that Bandit also had numerous red spots on the surface of his skin, which became noticable after he was shaved. This appearantly was capillary bleeding.
Blood samples were taken; some were run in-house and some sent out to a lab. The in-house values were acceptable, however the lab results showed he had several imbalances, the most notable was an extremely low platelet count.
I lost Bandit about 18 hours after surgery; he basically bled to death. Necropsy was somewhat inconclusive; based on his blood tests and tissue samples taken, it was speculated his problem was due to a rare type of adrenal tumor that caused aplastic anemia. We were never able to find his adrenal glands, even during necropsy, so they couldn't have been very enlarged.
I do hope you figure out what is wrong with your little girl. Given the bruising you experienced, I would be very reluctant to consider surgery, even if the Tennessee panel comes back showing abnormal values. I would seriously consider Lupron Injections.
As for vaccinations, they are given subQ, and the likelihood of much bleeding is minimal. For the record, Bandit had suffered a severe reaction to his cdv vaccination 2 years prior to his death. I have often wondered if the reaction ocurred due to underlying health issues, or if the reaction caused future health issues (or neither). I also suspect that even without his surgery, Bandit would not have been with me long.
Julie