From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2007-05-09 19:03:47 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: my baby is sick :(
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
There is a lot of work in our area being done on the fiber again so
my signal is very up and down. I was just sending this when it
crashed so I do not know if it went out, and if it if it was truncated:
Many thanks to Lynne who spotted the pet store medicine mention that
I missed.
There have been way too many ferrets killed from use of medications
that are not safe for
ferrets, from OTC (over the counter) human meds causing all sorts of
things from liver
failure on, some pet store meds such as some flea preps causing
everything from marrow
suppression on, and certain herbals causing everything from thrown
vascular clots
(chronic use of licorice) and more. Never give a ferret any med
unless the treating vet has
okayed it first, and always look up the med, no matter what the type.
There are links in the
FHL website which help look up meds though some are human sites so
not as applicable
as a veterinary one. (Sadly, such veterinary resources are lacking
so if anyone knows of
some by vets or veterinary pharmacologists, please, share! Some good
reference papers
on poisoning, including by meds, are in the ASPCA Poison Control site.)
There can also be problems with supplementation when done wrong. The
body needs
certain nutrients to be in proper proportions to have optimum uptake
and that effect is
perhaps magnified when the transit times of foods is swift.
Recently the problems of Hypervitaminosis D3 (too much vitamin D3) in
carnivores (Notice
that specification because for humans it looks like many of us may
get too little.) has been
a hot topic in veterinary nutrition. It turns out that while too
little can cause problems
laying down calcium, too much can cause hypercalcemia.
Notice this (from a cat reference but ferrets also can get calcium
oxalate uroliths (urinary
tract stones)):
http://www.dvmnewsmagazine.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=88223
BEGIN QUOTE
Hypercalciuria is a major risk factor for CaOx urolith formation.
Hypercalciuria may be
associated with 1) hypercalcemia, 2) hyperabsorption of calcium from
the intestinal tract,
3) impaired renal reabsorption of calcium, and/or, 4) excessive
mobilization of skeletal
calcium. Other risk factors that have been associated with calcium
oxalate uroliths include
acidosis, hyperoxaluria, hypocitrituria, hypomagnesuria, decreased
urinary concentration
of crystallization inhibitors and formation of small volumes of
concentrated urine.
END QUOTE
So too much D3 is documented as being able to lead to calcium oxalate
uroliths in another
carnivore. D3 can be gotten from the diet, especially
supplementation, and also can be
gotten from sun exposure.
BTW, reducing calcium does NOT appear to at all decrease the
formation of CaOx uroliths;
it actually can increase the risk. Reducing Oxalate in the diet DOES
help, though, from
what I have read.
When there are urinary tract stones but they are not cystine or
struvite and the urine pH
(percent of Hydrogen) is normal for a ferret (6.5 to 7.5) then
calcium oxalate stones are
the first ones to think of, though ferrets do get others.
BTW, in recent months one possible cause of crystals is feeding one
of the foods that is
contaminated with melamine. See recent posts on this in the FHL
Archives to learn more.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS TO CHECK ANY MEDICATIONS OR SUPPLEMENTS AND THE
AMOUNTS
WITH YOUR TREATING VET BEFORE GIVING THEM!
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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