From:
<grape_apes@charter.net>
Date: 2007-04-29 04:12:06 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Heart murmurs and such, insulinoma vs. diabetes, mast cell tumors
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
RE: Hearing heart murmurs and the like in wakeful ferrets
=E2=80=9Ca ferret knowledgeable vet can pick up heart murmurs but sometimes=
they
are not present.=E2=80=9D
Indeed. My Artemis=E2=80=99s arrhythmia (not a murmur) was not noticeable =
until I premedicated him with buprenorphine for a dental; prior to putting =
him under anesthesia, I checked his heart again with my stethoscope (which,=
of course, should always be done) and then I discovered it. His heart rat=
e without any sedation was just too fast to catch that arrhythmia. He was =
not clinical and had no problems, and after xrays and 2 echocardiograms to =
evaluate his ticker, he was determined to be fine for anesthesia as long as=
we give him some atropine first, and we=E2=80=99ll recheck an echo every y=
ear, or sooner if he starts having clinical signs.
RE: Glucose tabs/insulinoma-turned-diabetes possibility
<SNIP>=E2=80=A6=E2=80=9DTEST THE BLOOD SUGAR!
Why? Because in some there can be a sudden shift to diabetes, not
always just post-surgically, and the symptoms are the same.
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG5628
BEGIN QUOTE
Actually, although it sounds contradictory, it does happen.=E2=80=9D SNIP>
Dr. Lencewicz at Worcester Cat Hospital and Bird Clinic here in MA (I have =
her permission to mention this) has seen a case of this in the last two or =
three years=E2=80=A6
RE: Mast cell tumors
My Marley had a ton of them on and off throughout his life, and my Daisy co=
nstantly gets them, too. I only ever had two removed from Daisy-she was ha=
ving surgery anyway for adrenal disease and the one between her eyes kept r=
ecurring and at the time I decided to get it removed, it was not going away=
or healing, and causing her great itching discomfort to the point of becom=
ing infected, and the other one just happened to crop up day of surgery, so=
my vet removed it since it was right next to her abdominal incision. Most=
ly Daisy just gets them here and there-they literally crop up in the blink =
of an eye and usually go away just as fast-and they don=E2=80=99t generally=
bother her much. I call her my walking mast cell tumor, but she really is=
n=E2=80=99t THAT bad=E2=80=A6 ;)
Marley never had one removed, but sometimes his would get so itchy before r=
esolving that we would put him on low-dose Benadryl for awhile here and the=
re. He had not-great skin to begin with, with occasional dry, orange patch=
es (he was never adrenal).
I=E2=80=99ve had a couple of others get one here or there during their live=
s without incident. Keep an eye on them, and talk to your vet if they don=
=E2=80=99t go away shortly, seem to get bigger, redder, bloody or infected-=
looking, or if they seem to be causing your ferret undue discomfort. As fa=
r as I know at this point, there=E2=80=99s only been one or two cases of th=
ese being malignant in a ferret, and I believe those diagnoses were questio=
nable=E2=80=A6 (I think there is a Dr. Williams post out there about that=
=E2=80=A6) It=E2=80=99s a whole different ball game if your dog or cat get=
s one, and unfortunately, some nonferret-knowledgeable vets have sometimes =
in the past recommended euthanasia or predicted grave prognoses to some fer=
ret owners in the past about these tumors. Don=E2=80=99t panic, and be vig=
ilant.
Best of luck to all the sick ferrets and their parents,
April (vet tech and ferret owner)
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