From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2006-07-02 17:10:17 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] RE: Peanut Update 06-29-06
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
In the Armed Forced Institute of Pathology site
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
there are excellent reference materials for use by anyone, and some put in there especially to help vets. The latter include:
Pathology of the Ferret (in Adobe .PDF format)
Pathology of the Ferret (in HTML)
10 steps to Better Pathology Results (Reprinted from Vet Practice News)
Confusion and Controversy in Interpreting Ferret Clinical Pathology Data
Deciphering Ferret GI pathology reports (Reprinted from Vet Practice News, September 2002)
Telecytology - Improving Your Practice with "Micro"-management (Reprinted from Vet Practice News, June 2002)
I would like you and your vet to see the liver section in "Confusion and Controversy in Interpreting Ferret Clinical Pathology Data" because if memory serves you have mentioned a high ALT but the ALT level is caused to become high in ferrets when they are not eating or digesting enough food, but I do not recall you mentioning the sort of values that matter most when looking for liver damage in ferrets such as the bilirubin being off.
Here is a relevant section that will help your vet know what can be caused by anorexia, and which is appearing here with permission of the author, Dr. Bruce Williams, well known, highly respected, and truly excellent ferret expert pathologist:
START QUOTE
Probably the most common misinterpretation that I see on a routine basis is in the area of hepatic enzymes. Remember, that the ferret, being by nature an obligate carnivore, has an extremely short digestive tract, and requires meals as often as every four to six hours. Should food not be available, it possesses the ability to quickly mobilize peripheral fat stores in order to meet energy requirements. When this physiologic mechanism is activated, the liver is literally flooded with fat, which results in hepatocellular swelling which may be marked. The result of this swelling is the leakage of membrane enzymes such as alanine aminotransferase, and as the hepatocellular swelling increases, occlusion of bile canaliculi occurs, resulting, over time, in elevation of alkaline phosphatase.
In conjunction with this physiologic change, elevations of ALT up to 800 mg/dl can be seen, and alkaline phosphatase up to approximately 100 mg/dl. This often causes confusion to practitioners, who render an erroneous diagnosis of unspecified hepatic disease. However, hepatic disease is quite uncommon in this species; the most common cause of true hepatic disease in the ferret is neoplasia, with lymphosarcoma causing 95% of cases. Rarely bacterial infections of the liver or biliary tree may be seen.
The diagnosis of hepatic disease in the ferret must be based not only on ALT and alkaline phosphatase, but other clinical indicators in the CBC and chem panel. Clinical elevation of icterus or an elevated bilirubin is an excellent indicatior of primary hepatic disease, or concomitant leukocytosis or pyrexia may lend additional credence to a diagnosis of primary hepatic disease.
Decreased total protein and mild hypoalbuminemia is a common finding in both ill and older ferrets. Most commonly, hypoalbuminemia indicates prolonged anorexia in the ferret, but it is also a common feature in long-standing inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract. In older animals, gastroduodenal infection by Helicobacter mustelae is a common cause of mild hypoalbuminemia, and in young animals, any inflammatory bowel disease may cause this sign.
END QUOTE
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
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