From:
"Amy Seyler"
Date: 2004-09-06 21:45:01 UTC
Subject: Update on Fritz (obese ferret)
To: "FHL" <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <017001c4945a$c3d525f0$dd3f0e04@HomeOffice>
Just to complete the thread on this: Fritz, who I'd posted about recently=
regarding his obesity, passed on to the Rainbow Bridge last night.
He had been grossly overweight for several months. We had run complete bl=
oodwork, X-rays, fecal and urine tests, and everything showed that he was h=
ealthy. He'd been put on a diet and daily exercise regimen and that was not=
successful. Eventually he showed signs of adrenal disease, with the classi=
c hair loss.
He had the adrenal surgery on August 9. He had a longer recovery period d=
ue to his size, and the stitches put a strain on the belly skin which cause=
d him to drag himself around everywhere. His first set of stitches were tak=
en out August 22, and only half had healed, due to the strain on his belly.=
He was stitched together with individual stitches and those came out as we=
ll. He was glued last Monday (August 30) and that came apart. Then he was p=
ut under on Tuesday to have the internal skin anchored, and the outside ski=
n stitched and glued. That seemed to do the trick.
Wednesday night he was breathing rapidly, almost panting, even though the=
air conditioning was on. During this time he continued to eat and drink al=
most incessantly. He had very large puddles of urine, and the urine was dil=
ute. I took him into the vet ER and he was hospitalized overnight in an oxy=
gen cage. He had bloodwork done. His sodium/potassium ratio was 38:1, which=
was in the good range. But his blood glucose was 551.
He went to see his regular vet the next morning and she kept him to rerun=
the bloodwork, as well as check his glucose periodically. His BG was never=
below 350, even after a 4-hour fast. Rest of the bloodwork showed some inf=
lammation/infection and his liver enzymes were off. She diagnosed diabetes =
and we started him on 1 unit of insulin once a day. He was also on metronid=
azole (sp?) and amoxi 2x/day, and carafate 3x/day. We started him on the in=
sulin on Friday.
He seemed to be a little better Saturday, but by yesterday didn't seem to=
be doing that well. By yesterday evening, I was really concerned, as his b=
ody temperature was quite low and his stitches were coming apart again. He =
passed peacefully sometime before midnight. I have no idea what happened an=
d he's in my fridge right now awaiting necropsy.
I wish I had done a little more research on the diabetes from the archive=
s. I see that some folks don't use the NPH insulin, and others check BG reg=
ularly, and we didn't even think about that. I don't know what happened but=
we hope to have some closure with the necropsy.