From:
Leslie Cucino
Date: 2006-09-10 19:38:35 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] I have to know
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Hi Jessica,
I don't think I wrote to you before, but I did send your original
email to Dr. Katrina Ramsell, a vet/pathologist that is working on
the DIM cases.
Each DIM case seems to be different in some small but significant
way. My Whitey never had the muscle inflammation that's so common
with DIM cases. He also never got the skin lesions that are most
common. He eventually died of heart failure, at 1.5 years old. The
cause of death from the vet (Mike Garner) that's studying the DIM
cases was in fact DIM.
If this was DIM that your ferret had and it wasn't diagnosed early
enough, there really would have been little that you could have done
other than make your baby comfortable. This is not a terribly new
disease, but one that most vets don't know about unless they
specifically study ferrets and attend symposiums on ferret health.
Your day to day cat and dog vet has probably never heard of it.
You can't beat yourself up over this. Even those who are diagnosed
early aren't surviving, I think the mortality rate is still higher
than the success rates. I know how you're watching your other ferret
now; every sneeze is a bad omen. It's very unusual for two ferrets in
the same household to contract DIM. If your other ferret is fine,
then don't worry. You did all that you could; I'm sure your vet did
all that he could as well. You gave Felix the love you had in your
heart and did the best that you could for him. Read the Rainbow
Bridge and believe it, you'd be amazed at how comforting that can be.
Take care,
Leslie
[Moderator's Quick Note: Dr. Ramsell is a veterinarian and a pharmacologist who
has worked on treatments for DIM, not the pathology of it. The pathologists who
have worked a LOT on DIM are Doctors Matti Kiupel of Michigan State, Mike Garner
of NW Zoopath, and for a while in the beginning before spare time ran out Bruce
Williams of the AFIP. As per a recent post there is currently an article on DIM in
Exotic DVM, Issue 8.3
http://www.trustedpartner.com/docs/library/000087/tocs/contents8-3.pdf
Myofasciitis: An Emerging Fatal Disease of the Domestic Ferret
Michael M. Garner, DVM, Dipl ACVP
Katrina Ramsell, PhD, DVM ]
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