From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2007-05-21 20:36:04 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Please read: Is it DIM? Things just keep getting more confusing...
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
DIM is a rare syndrome which seems to
be decreasing in numbers. Our Chiclet
was among the first half dozen or so who
were noticed to have something quite
unusual. To this day I wish she had never
had that. The pain of having one before
her with Juvenile Lymphoma pales in
comparison. The club of people who have
had ferrets with definite DIM is one that
wants to have no new members. I would
not wish it on an enemy, even an enemy
who was actively hurting me.
Most who have gotten it have been young,
and the sources of the ferrets has been
varied. There is a hypothesis of cause but
the actual cause is unknown.
I put the abstract of the sole study on it in
a post just a sort while ago so you can read
that, too.
With Chiclet it began with one node that went
from normal to so enlarged that her leg was
sticking straight out within a matter of minutes.
Then the fevering began. Ferrets are normally
101 or 102 degrees F (and sometimes up to
about 103 if really active) but these ferrets pop
into very high fevers. Chiclet's became too high
for our thermometer to register but during most
of her last month and an half she was about 105
Chiclet also had cellulitis with it. Muscle is badly
inflamed and seriously affected by the disease
(which is why the muscle biopsy is needed
because once it is bad enough to be obviously
DIM the window for treatment may be lost).
Eventually it tends to damage the heart, liver,
esophagus, etc. Poor Little (Little was Chiclet's
nickname for the pun of Chiclet Little.) had a
fever in her final day that was higher than our
veterinary thermometer would register, began
to have convulsions and then lost consciousness.
Later she awoke, paralyzed from the bottom of
the thorax down but was not in pain and just
wanted me to hold her so that is how we spent
the last hours till her mercy shot. If she had been
in pain we'd have done it immediately but she
seemed to strongly want that time together, so...
The white count usually goes sky high. For
example, numbers 2 to 3 times what is encountered
with lymphoma are pretty standard, and there have
been numbers over 7 times higher than what is
often seen seen with lymphoma. For a while there
the treating vets kept saying things like, "I didn't
even know that such counts could exist and a ferret
be alive."
There are several definite cases of DIM described in
the archives.
DIM will be one of the topics covered by a vet
researcher, Dr. Katrina Ramsell, who has doctorates
in both veterinary medicine and pharmacology at
the IFC Symposium in the Northwest next month:
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
Currently, there is also another unusual disease
which first showed up in Europe, then the U.S.
North West and after that more generally in the
U.S. It appears to be like Feline Infectious Peritonitis
and may be that disease or related to it. That, too,
is a rare but truly bad disease to encounter. There
is info about that and who has been studying it
also in the archives, and it, too, will be explained
at the upcoming IFC Symposium.
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "forgewizard" <Forgewizard@...> wrote:
>
>
> What is "DIM"? it is not listed in the acronyms file.
>
> Regards, JosiesMom
>
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/