From:
mjanke@miamiferret.org
Date: 2005-07-02 23:48:38 UTC
Subject: RE: Bone marrow/leukemia?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <7189316.1120348118947.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Author wrote:
> Two different vets examined her and her lab work and said she has a bone marrow problem. Her white blood count is extremely low.
Ferrets have white counts that are lower than what vets who are not familiar with ferrets are accustomed to and can result in an erroneous diagnosis. I can't say that's what's going on here, not knowing what the actual levels were at or the experience of the vets you saw.
You said she's pale... did they tell you what her packed cell volume was? There's no flea problem, right? I know that sounds crazy, but more than one ferret has died from anemia as a result of fleas. I've had to provide a donor ferret myself for my vet when they have had ferrets that needed a transfusion simply because of an ignored flea problem.
mike