From:
"cbrolle"
Date: 2008-03-26 18:47:25 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Looking for advice/consultation for a very ill little girl
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hello all,
I just joined the group today and am posting for the first time. I
found the group while searching for answers about my ferret's illness.
I know this is long but thank you for your time - I am trying to
provide as much detail as possible.
My little girl is Luna and she is six years old. She is not a MF
ferret - Valley Path, I think. Last year she was briefly hospitalized
for a kidney failure, but recovered well and has shown no further
signs of kidney problems (frequent blood tests and general at-home
monitoring).
She is now back at the animal hospital for a different problem. About
10 days ago she displayed some hind end weakness. It wasn't drastic,
just a bit of limping and unsteadiness. I called the vet and he said
it was probably not an emergency, so I brought her in for a regular
appointment two days later. Her gait had worsened at that point and
she had soft stools. She was also making gnawing motions with her
mouth occasionally, which I believe indicated nausea. She had lost
some weight as well. The vet took a glucose reading and it was on the
low side (59) so we sent her blood sample off for insulin level
testing. He suspected insulinoma and put her on prednisone.
The vet also took an x-ray to rule out any trauma or bone problems,
which were indeed ruled out.
Two days of prednisone treatment later, she had gone way downhill.
She lost quite a lot of weight. Luna is very small but she went from
640g to 510g in less than a week, even though I forcefed her chicken
baby food and some nutrical 4 times a day. She drank on her own, but
wouldn't eat on her own. Though she drank a lot, she was still
dehydrated. On Saturday March 22 I admitted her back to the animal
hospital. She barely moves, is extremely weak. It breaks my heart to
see her like this.
Her insulin test came back very low, 1.7, which is not what we
expected. The prednisone didn't seem to be helping. Through the
Easter weekend they kept her hydrated, forcefed her Hill's A/D and
nutrical, and monitored her glucose. Her stool sample didn't show
anything out of the ordinary, but she still had diarrhea. They
stopped the prednisone and started a cocktail of meds for
gastroenteritis. Unfortunately I do not remember their names, but
they do not seem to be helping her at all.
She has had an enlarged spleen with no complications for at least a
year, but now they suspect lymphoma related to her spleen. She had an
ultrasound yesterday and I think they took an aspirate of her spleen -
I visit her daily and she had a needleprick spot on her abdomen last
night. The ultrasound showed a very large spleen and also showed many
nodules on her pancreas. Her adrenals and liver appeared ok.
My vet suggested administering a higher dose of prednisone to see if
we could get her stronger. I have agreed to this as of this morning.
He said we can't determine if the nodules on her pancreas are
cancerous or not without exploratory surgery, and she is so weak. He
also reminded me to consider quality of life...
I don't know what we're facing here but I want to at least try to
fight it. I don't know if the surgery is a good idea or not since she
is so weak. I don't know if the higher dose of prednisone will have
any effect. I don't know the result (if any) of the spleen aspirate.
My best guesses right now based on research and my vet's input are -
lymphoma (spleen) or pancreatic exocrine (digestive) cancer.
Any thoughts, advice, similar real-life stories...anything at all, I
thank you for taking the time to write it for me.
Kate
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