Message Number: SG18437 | New FHL Archives Search
From: sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2006-10-08 16:08:02 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] IBD
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com


I know that Dr. Bruce Williams has implicated ECE and so have others, but E=
CE doesn't stand alone. This is a note from Dr. Mark Burgess who has also =
done work on IBD:

BEGIN QUOTE from Dr. Mark Burgess:

Hi Sukie (you can post this if you want).... good question... part of th=
e answer may be that IBD is very common, and households with one case are m=
ore likely to recognize cases in their other pets (or their vet may recogni=
ze it too).... gut problems are so common in adult ferrets that the odds =
actually favor more than one case occurring in multiple pet households. A=
link may also occur if infectious disease plays a role in development of I=
BD...such as did the ferrets in the house have ECE in the past, which may i=
ncite a chronic inflammatory response that fails to subside even when the v=
irus is gone. Helicobacter could in theory contribute to gastritis, but s=
eems to be a primary player in only a very small % of patients, so probably=
isn't a big factor in most households with multiple cases. Other possible=
players include cryptosporidia (we've had some cases where crypto-like str=
uctures are seen in the bowel biopsies). Dietary factors could play a role=
; what diet and/or treats are affecting the ferrets in a given household? =
High starch/carbohydrate intake may exacerbate gut problems; low starch fo=
rmulas sometimes seem to clinically improve some patients. Beyond that, the=
occasional startling similarities between house pets are not always clearl=
y explained... e.g. one house will have pets with remarkably similar patter=
ns of chemistry abnormalities... such as very high lipase, mild globulin el=
evations, and significant ALT elevations-- and in another house the pets h=
ave very high globulin, mild lipase elevations, and no ALT changes. Are th=
ese coincidental? In the vast majority of cases we cannot identify an infe=
ctious agent via history or biopsies.
...
BTW John Lewington's book "Ferret Husbandry, Medicine & Surgery" will b=
e out this fall, and includes a chapter on Ferret Gastrointestinal and Hepa=
tic (liver) diseases which I wrote.

END QUOTE

The removed portion was giving me permission to carry GI question back and =
forth to and from him, but honestly I just do not have the time to do that.=


It interests me that he sees such GI problems so often when we had only two=
in one crew with IBD and none before or after. It may be because people s=
eek him out for those problems, or maybe we are a bit unusual; I don't know=
.=


For those who are interested: the last I heard on Dr. Lewington's book (2n=
d edition) the publisher was planning printing and release this month or ne=
xt. I know that multiple people helped, including Brett Middleton and Chri=
stinia Bernard on genetics info (I did a lot of reference and bibliography =
work for that section -- twice -- because JL and I both had computer failu=
res at about the same time so I had to reconstruct a lot of my work), Bob C=
hurch on domestication, and others I don't know about.

A new text from Dr. Karen Purcell and Dr. Bruce Williams is also in the pre=
-printing stage, I think, but I don't know any of the timing on that.
=

=




=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D<<<
Orange Broadband click below:
http://ads.smartgroups.com/adclick/CID=3D000000b7c79a99a500000000
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D>>>
--
If you want to share pictures, use the calendar, or start a vote
visit http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth

To leave the group, email: ferrethealth-unsubscribe@smartgroups.com

Report abuse http://www.smartgroups.com/text/abusereport.cfm?gid%3D1423922&mid%3D18437