From:
"Lin"
Date: 2003-08-27 16:00:23 UTC
Subject: Ariel's Recovery from Supraventricular Tachycardia
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <002d01c36cb4$557bddc0$2602a8c0@woh.rr.com>
Hi All:
I've been meaning to post an update on my little Ariel (3 yr old spayed fem=
ale, weighing just over one lb). Some of you may remember my somewhat despe=
rate posts a couple mos ago, trying to find a vet who could do an echocardi=
ogram, cos Ariel had an enlarged heart, nose & ears going almost white, ext=
reme lethargy, etc.
If anyone has any reason to need this sort of info in the future, I hope th=
is will provide some help.
First of all, Ariel is doing *wonderfully*, almost back to her old self. Th=
ere were a few rough spots along the way, but thanks to having a good vet w=
ho had good resources, we've gotten through it. It's been truly miraculous.=
Ariel's problems began around March of this yr. She'd hide under the sofa, =
curled up in a tight little ball, w/ an almost white nose & ears, & simply =
not want anything to do w/ us, our other 2 fuzzies, or anything. Our vet co=
uldn't find anything that was obviously leaping out at him as being the cau=
se. She did have a history of an arrhythmia, but he didn't notice any chang=
e in that. This spring, he thought he felt something in her abdomen, & did =
an exploritory. What he felt was apparently an old calcification in her spl=
een, & not determined as anything to worry about. He also discovered that h=
er right kidney was about 2.5X the size of her left one. Biopsies taken fro=
m 3 areas of the kidney all came back as normal.
End of May/beginning of June, I took Ariel to our vet for an entire day's t=
esting, every test our vet could think of doing. Fasting BG was normal.....=
everything seemed normal except for 2 things - her liver enzymes (sorry, do=
n't know the technical names of all this) were elevated (1900-ish range), &=
an xray showed that her heart was enlarged to about 1 interspace larger th=
an it was before her exploritory surgery about 5 wks earlier. That's when I=
was posting here, looking for anyone who could do the echo.
We found an excellent vet who did the echo & an EKG. On the echo, Ariel's h=
eart looked normal - no enlargment. However, the EKG showed that her heart =
rate hit 350 bpm a couple times, & actually hit 380 bpm once during the lon=
g strip they did on her (about 15 min). Thus the dx of supraventricular tac=
hycardia. This may be the reason her heart suddenly looked enlarged in that=
one xray - too high a volume of blood in her heart at that moment, as her =
heart was pumping more blood *in* before it could pump the last batch *out*=
. Ariel was put on the minimum dose of Atenolol as recommended by her resea=
ch into that med as used in ferrets (Hillyer?). My husband (a pharmacist) c=
ompounded the med, so that her dosage was 0.3cc per evening.
Ariel showed improvement w/in the first 2 days on the med - increased energ=
y, nose & ears staying pink, etc. After about another wk, our vet upped her=
dose to 0.4cc per evening. A few days later, we began to notice that she w=
as becoming even thinner (her normal weight prior to this was 1.4 lbs). Aft=
er the 4th 0.4cc dose of Atenolol, Ariel displayed some odd behavior. I had=
her on the sofa w/ me about 10 min after she got her med, & when she decid=
ed to get off the sofa, she didn't jump - she basically walked off the edge=
of the sofa, like she was walking into thin air, followed by some staggeri=
ng as she walked. Our vet wondered if it was the med dosage, or the molassa=
s flavoring. He dropped her dose back to 0.3cc & started giving her soup se=
veral times a day (chicken baby food/heavy cream/Ferretone for taste). =
The following day, about 10 min after getting some of her soup, we had a re=
al panic situation. Ariel started spinning in place - her legs were still u=
nder her, but it's like her back legs weren't going anywhere, her balance w=
as off, & she was just spinning in place. She'd fall over, get up, & do it =
again, doing it 3 or 4 times before I got to her to pick her up. I held her=
, & when I put her down, she was able to run in a straight line, but fell o=
ver a few times. I called the vet, & his best guess was what he called hepa=
tic encephalopathy - w/ her liver enzymes maybe still not being right, perh=
aps the increased fat & protein in the baby food soup was more than she cou=
ld handle, & his description to me was that it was almost like she was hall=
ucinating. I gave her a few licks of Karo Syrup, & she was fine. I took her=
in the following day for blood work & a follow up EKG. Her EKG was wonderf=
ul, the med was indeed working. Her liver enzymes were still elevated, but =
had dropped to the 1500-ish range. We took her off the Atenolol for a coupl=
e days, restarted it at 0.25cc for a couple days, then back up to 0.33cc. I=
changed her soup to Hills A/D, Pedialyte, & Ferretone for taste, w/ some v=
ariations after it seemed that this mix was working & there were no further=
episodes like those she'd experienced during those few days.
To make a long story only slightly shorter, Ariel has been wonderful since =
then. No further incidences of spinning, loss of balance, or anything. She'=
s putting weight back on (last she was weighed was 1.2 lbs), she's dooking =
& beginning to dance a little again. She's beginning to interact w/ her 2 b=
rothers again, not shying away when they're playing rough. Her eyes are big=
& bright, she's eating her kibble again, & this is the most normal we've s=
een her since about March. There were times we thought we were watching her=
die right before our eyes, but now we've got our baby back. It's nothing s=
hort of a miracle, to us.
Someone mentioned to me that they'd never heard of anything like this in a =
ferret before, but I can't believe other ferrets have not experienced this,=
& it just went undx'd. So I wanted to post this update, lenghtly as it is,=
in the hopes that it may help someone else in the future. We were fortunat=
e to have a very perceptive vet (young, but perceptive), & that we found an=
excellent cardiac specialist who got us in quickly & did very detailed tes=
ts to find out exactly what was going on, & got her on the correct med for =
her specific problem. Ariel goes back in soon, for a further check of those=
liver enzymes. We're working on the assumption that those enzymes were out=
of whack due to her heart problem, & I guess we're continuing w/ that assu=
mption as long as they keep dropping.
I hope this will help someone in the future. I'm sorry I'm not up on all th=
e precise medical terminology on all this stuff, but if anyone is intereste=
d in getting those details, I can get it from my vet easily.
Thank you for your patience in reading this!
Lin, a very healthy, happy Ariel, Oberon, & Max