From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2007-01-11 18:46:02 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Liver chemistry - urgent advice needed
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
The ALT is high because your ferret is not eating.
In the write-up below notice which liver enzyme readings confuse people who are used to
cats and dogs, and notice which ones -- like bilirubin -- that matter.
Carried here with standing permission to me from the author, Dr. Bruce Williams, ferret
veterinary pathology expert:
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/Clin_Path/ClinPath.html
BEGIN QUOTE
Probably the most common misinterpretation that I see on a routine basis is in the area of
hepatic enzymes. Remember, that the ferret, being by nature an obligate carnivore, has an
extremely short digestive tract, and requires meals as often as every four to six hours.
Should food not be available, it possesses the ability to quickly mobilize peripheral fat
stores in order to meet energy requirements. When this physiologic mechanism is
activated, the liver is literally flooded with fat, which results in hepatocellular swelling
which may be marked. The result of this swelling is the leakage of membrane enzymes
such as alanine aminotransferase, and as the hepatocellular swelling increases, occlusion
of bile canaliculi occurs, resulting, over time, in elevation of alkaline phosphatase.
In conjunction with this physiologic change, elevations of ALT up to 800 mg/dl can be
seen, and alkaline phosphatase up to approximately 100 mg/dl. This often causes
confusion to practitioners, who render an erroneous diagnosis of unspecified hepatic
disease. However, hepatic disease is quite uncommon in this species; the most common
cause of true hepatic disease in the ferret is neoplasia, with lymphosarcoma causing 95%
of cases. Rarely bacterial infections of the liver or biliary tree may be seen.
The diagnosis of hepatic disease in the ferret must be based not only on ALT and alkaline
phosphatase, but other clinical indicators in the CBC and chem panel. Clinical elevation of
icterus or an elevated bilirubin is an excellent indicatior of primary hepatic disease, or
concomitant leukocytosis or pyrexia may lend additional credence to a diagnosis of
primary hepatic disease.
Decreased total protein and mild hypoalbuminemia is a common finding in both ill and
older ferrets. Most commonly, hypoalbuminemia indicates prolonged anorexia in the
ferret, but it is also a common feature in long-standing inflammatory disease of the
gastrointestinal tract. In older animals, gastroduodenal infection by Helicobacter mustelae
is a common cause of mild hypoalbuminemia, and in young animals, any inflammatory
bowel disease may cause this sign.
END QUOTE
Also useful to you will be
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/PDF/Ferret_GI_path_reports.pdf
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