From:
tansy
Date: 2003-11-13 04:27:01 UTC
Subject: Anemic Sniffles update
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20031113042701.45285.qmail@web60505.mail.yahoo.com>
Good news! My ferret Sniffles is actually doing well.
I took him in today to have a transfusion, and he
didn't need one. Yippee!
A quick synopsis- Sniffs is a (just) 3 yo rescue who
was diagnosed with severe anemia about 4 months ago.
At the time of diagnosis he was active even though he
had only 8% PCV. No deformed or irregular cells, just
no red cells.
My vet felt it was long standing disease, while I have
been arguing for adrenal disease. He had 2
transfusions within several weeks of each other, and
got very sick (vomiting etc)both times. He also
underwent a bone marrow transplant, and we started him
on Lupron.
On Oct 10 Sniffs was barely hanging on. Couldn't
stand, eat, and having difficulty breathing. After
talking to my vet we decided the problem with the
transfusions might be the preservatives, and we
decided to try transfusing him one more time. I made
the decision that if I could keep him going being
transfused once a month I would do it. So, Sniffs got
30cc of donor blood that I sat in the waiting room and
pushed VERY slowly-1 to 2 cc every 5 minutes. Success!
No reaction, and 2 days later Sniffs was running
around like a normal 2 year old ferret.
2 weeks ago he started becoming sexually aggressive
(er, towards me...he doesn't really like other
ferrets. He kept following me around chuckling at me.)
So, we hit him with more Lupron and the sexual
aggression stopped, so the adrenal tumor theory seems
pretty solid.
Since it was over a month I decided I wanted to get a
PCV even though he LOOKED and acted fine. I figured I
was in denial and he would need to be transfused. So
off we went with 2 donors...and his PCV was 34%! Dr
Fox gives a normal range of 48-59, but also cites Lee
et al who give a normal range of 36-50 (both values
are for fitch males). So, needless to say I am over
the moon.... In 18 years of ferreting there have
unfortunately been too few situations that have had
this positive an outcome, though I realize we're not
out of the woods yet.
The plan is to keep on with the Lupron, continue to
monitor his PCV to determine if the bone marrow
transplant is indeed working. I'm hoping to get him to
the point where he can have surgery for the adrenal
tumor.
tansy
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