From:
tamarastanton@yahoo.com
Date: 2004-08-23 12:03:43 UTC
Subject: RE: [ferrethealth] Flax Seed Oil - dosage?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <26460367.1093279383246.JavaMail.nobody@vanadium.smartgroups.com>
Thank you for your message. So far, she is at least tolerating .5cc of it mixed in with
her meds and ferretone. We will slowly increase...I can't tell if it's doing any good,
but we will try!
Arrival at diagnosis: We opted against a CT or MRI, though our vet did mention (but
didn't push) that we could have this done. Our vet has seen thousands of ferrets,
though even he admits very few brain tumor cases. Moonshine's story is a bit long,
so I'll try to make it short: Moonshine has gone through 3 or 4 surgeries for various
things. After one surgery a few years ago, she started walking around in circles for
no apparant reason. Brought her back to the vet and he couldn't find anything
physically wrong with her, so we assumed it was behavioral. It went away within
weeks and she would do the circle thing every once in a while, but not constantly.
Just 3 months ago, Moonshine had surgery for insulinoma. Following surgery, she
started to do the circling thing again. I had actually forgotten about the previous
time (she's 6+ years old), but our vet remembered because it was so odd. So 4
weeks pass and she's still circling, but this time, it's getting progressively worse and
she'll literally walk around in circles for 15 minutes straight. Her tail gets poofy as
well. The tighter the circle, the more stressed she becomes. She's also losing her
memory; she even attacks her cagemate, forgetting who he is (there's a long story
here, too ending with she *never* attacks Jack). She's forgetting what to do with
Foamy Fries and her favorite toys. And she's constantly sniffing the air as if she's
looking for something. Also, she's going blind (actually, at this point, she's probably
75% blind). All very strange. So....
....we take her in again and we do bloodwork, etc... and everything looks fine
(except that she may be getting fatty deposits on her neck and on her side, which
our vet now doesn't even want to aspirate because he doesn't want to cause any
undue stress by putting her under anesthesia). He's seen relatively few brain tumor
cases, but strongly believes that's what we're dealing with here. He doesn't push the
idea of a CT or MRI...I assume because he doesn't think it's necessary (and he knows
we'd go through it if he thought we should).
Again, our vet sees thousands of ferrets and he's opened Moonshine up on multiple
occasions. I know there's no way to be sure without further tests, but I think I have
to agree that it's not necessary to put her through that.
One thing is that our vet is not big on herbal remedies, though he's not against
them, either. I think the Co-Q10 is helping a bit, and I hope the Flax Seed Oil does
some good, too. If anyone has additional suggestions, we would greatly appreciate
it...we've combed through sites like Dr. Weil website but I am always nervous about
what you can and cannot give ferrets. So we started with the Co-Q10 (because I had
found many folks who had tried this) and then the Flax Seed Oil (same reason).
She still circles, but not as bad as before, and her memory is nearly gone. But she
has good days and bad days. We're trying to keep things consistent for her. Good
news is that she loves her meds! Bad news is that she's a cranky old lady and her
poor cagemate, who absolutely adores her, puts up with so much. :-(
Anyway, apologies for the long post. Thanks again for your dosage
recommendation!
Tamara (and Moonshine)