Message Number: SG7257 | New FHL Archives SearchFrom: cindy643@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 23:18:58 +0000 (GMT)
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Subject: RE: Juvenile Lymphoma--Bone Marrow?
Message-ID: <7228271.1073085538832.JavaMail.root@indium.smartgroups.com>
Our one-year old ferret Pumpkin had a high fever and was very lethargic for over a week. The vets working on her have now determined that it is likely that she has an autoimmune disorder that is causing her white blood cells to attack and destroy her red blood cells. This likely diagnosis was made after it was noted that Pumpkin's hematocrit was decreasing over time and after an ultrasound didn't show any tumors or other abnormalities that would indicate she had juvenile lymphosarcoma. By the time she was diagnosed (she had seen two other vets and had been sick for about a week and a half), Pumpkin had developed a heart murmur, a swollen lymph node in her right front leg, and was having trouble breathing.
After receiving high doses of steroids, continued Baytril, and erythropoetin (procrit), Pumpkin is a looking a little bit better and her fever is finally gone. We are keeping our fingers crossed that she continues to improve!
Author wrote:
> We are headed to the Tufts Veterinary School clinic tomorrow with Pumpkin; I
> will post here what we find out. I am glad that we are so close to Tufts (about
> an hour); our vet didn't know what to make of this and I haven't been able to
> find much help online. We are looking forward to at least getting a better
> sense of what we are facing.
End of ferrethealth Digest
***********************************
Send comments to Pam at pjdutche@email.unc.edu. Please note that this address is only useful for questions about the FHL archive. Questions about ferret health, or those intended for the FHL, should be sent to the Ferret Health List.