From:
darksetter@yahoo.com
Date: 2004-08-12 13:44:58 UTC
Subject: RE: *Renagen* for kidney problems?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <3342459.1092318298236.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Author wrote:
> Hello!
> I have a 5 year old otherwise healthy boy ferret who started having
> elevated creatinine levels(1.5) a few months ago. The vet told us to
> give subQ fluids (35 cc) q 12 hours. The levels went to 1.1. But
> yesterday, the levels were checked again and are at 2.1. The vet told
> us to increase the subQ to 45 cc q 12 hours. I can certainly do that,
> but have a hard time understanding how increasing the fluids by 20 ccper
> day is going to turn the corner towards normal with this boy. His
> appetite is starting to slow a bit too.
> One of the veterinary offices I work at has a holistic vet. I talked to
> her about the problem and she said she has alot of kidney dogs on
> Renagen (links below) with great results. I had her talk to the
> manufacturer about ferrets and they said it would be fine for them and
> gave me an adjusted dosage for their size.
> My questions are 1)....should I be searching out a vet with a more
> agressive approach to this issue or are we doing the right thing by just
> increasing the fluids and hoping for the best
> 2) Your opinion of *renagen* for ferrets.
> http://www.thorne.com/veterinary/renagen.html
> http://www.thorne.com/veterinary/detail.lasso?id=V908
> I just lost one sweet ferret to a health issue and want to make sure I
> do everything possible for this one.
> Thanks in advance for your time.
> deb and Tubey!
> --
> --
> NEXT LEVEL ANIMAL CHIROPRACTIC
> - AVCA Certified
> - Dr Deb Sell
> - 408-460-9960
> - http://www.NextLevelAnimalChiropractic.com
my ferret snoopy was dehydrated and was vomiting 2 weeks ago , so the vet did blood work and they showed renal failure. they gave her fluids and antibiotics because they thought she had a infection also, so things normalized 2 days later and her blood tests got a bit better , but they still suspected kidney probs! a few days later we rushed her to the er with a 106 fever , so they hydrated her and got the fever down, at this point her blood tests were totally normall and kidneys showed to be ok again. 3-4 days later same thing 106 fever, she stayed at the er overnite then i finally got her to see a ferret specialist who did some tests and a ultrasound, he found a abcess and adrenal tumor wich he removed yesterday. the abcess in her abdomen contained left over uterus that the breeder didnt do a good job in getting all out wich seems to be what caused the infection and messed up bloodwork, she has a bad infection so we are praying today we get good news and she pulled through ok!
the reason i wrote all this is to show that theres alot of things that could cause bloodwork to show something that mite not be the true cause of whats happening.
luckily we have a bigtime ferret specialist a half hr away from our home, you can easilly tell the difference when you go to someone who sees alot of them and has studied ferrets compared to a vet that sees few and has done little research on ferrets. they also have a ultrasound guy who sees a ton of ferrets and can find things your avg ultrasound person cant!
so my suggestion is to seek out a specialist and you should try and get a ultrasound. f the vet i went to the first day ordered one, my snoopy would have had a better chance at this surgery or could have had saved her if she never ,m ade it this fa(luckily she did)