From:
Ferretsnluv@aol.com
Date: 2004-11-06 23:49:08 UTC
Subject: Urgent - Ferret Hospitalized with unknown illness
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <84.37dbebee.2ebebcf4@aol.com>
Hope that the doctors and people on this list will be able to help us right
now.
Ally is about 2 years old and has been in excellent health up until last
Friday.
Tonight is her 3rd night at the vet's and no one has any idea of what is
wrong with her;
Symptoms begin with hind end weakness, inability to stand up while eating and
sleeping more. When she arrived at the vet she had a high fever and showed
signs of being in great pain with muscle swelling. Her white blood count is
145, she has rapid hearth beat and rapid breathing.
The vet says that they have seen a couple of cases of this over the last
several months but it doesn't have a name. Some ferrets have vomited and also had
diarriah but Ally has not.
An exploratory was performed yesterday and while they did take samples for
biopsy nothing looked out of the ordinary.
She's on pain meds and have started her on Interferon twice a day. She is
aware of her mom cuddling her and seemed to recognize my voice when I saw her
this afternoon.
Has anyone heard or seen this? The impression we have is that this is a new
illness and don't know if it's contagious. We are treating it as something
viral and quarantined everyone else.
Thank you for your help and suggestions. Ally comes from a family of 5
ferrets and her sisters and brother miss her very much and her mom is beside
herself.
Connie