From:
"Lisa Daley"
Date: 2007-03-14 19:31:54 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Lymph node biopsy, enlarged spleen, antibiotics...help!
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Emily:
We had two cases of heliocabactor in our house the past few months:
1)Trixie (6yrs old) got it last fall and the "triple therapy"
(amoxicillin/metronidazole/Pepto) worked for her within two weeks.
However, hers was caused by the stress of having lymphoma. I guess
since she wasn't feeling well because of the lymphoma she was more
susceptible to the heliocabactor. She was actually diagnosed with
the lymphoma when we took her in for the heliocabactor. The nodes on
her neck and behind her leg were enlarged so my vet asperated the
nodes with a needle and the test results came back positive. It's
very easy to do and very little stress on the ferret. You may want
to try that instead of an actual biopsy. Also, as your vet probably
knows, some ferrets have fatty deposits around their necks that can
feel like swollen nodes.
Trixie is now getting chemo and her nodes have shrunk. There is no
cure for lymphoma and chemo does not always work but we decided to
give her a non-instensive chemo to buy her a few more months.
2)Rudy had heliocabactor in December and was treated with the triple
therapy for two weeks. He recovered, but it came back in February.
This time my vet has him on the triple therapy for one month (though
he was better within two weeks). Our vet said that stress can be the
leading cause (change in environment, overcrowding, etc.) so we
removed him from the "Ferret room" that contained 7 other ferrets
and we're hoping that he's not as stressed now.
I did look up some other treatments because he absolutley HATES the
Metronidazole (and I can't blame him) and I read several articles
that said using Biaxin in place of the Metronidazole results in a
quicker recovery so they don't have to be on it as long. The Biaxin
tastes like crap too but they only need to be on it for 2 weeks i/o
4-6.
Re spleen: From what I've read and been told by many ferret vets it
is not unsual for ferrets to have enlarged spleens and no one really
knows why. It is rarely life threatening and only needs to be
removed if the ferret is very uncomfortable. I'd worry more about
the nodes than the spleen. Get them asperated asap! At the very
least you can put her on Pred. to slow the lymphoma progression if
that's what it is.
Here's an excellent article by Dr. Williams about enlarged spleens:
http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/med/spleen.html
Good luck!
Lisa
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