From:
"Susan Liszewski DVM"
Date: 2008-03-27 14:28:33 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Looking for advice/consultation for a very ill little girl
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
My first thought is gastric ulcer and giving pred without support of
Carafate and possible Heliobactor treatments Biaxin and amoxi she
won't improve and the pred will make it worse. I would try treating
a gastric ulcer on top of the insulinoma. I know the glucose can get
pretty low from not eating secondary to an ulcer but since an insulin
level was done. You might have your vet try injectable steroids for
a few days too instead to give the stom a rest. Good Luck.
Dr. Sue
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "cbrolle" <cbrolle@...> wrote:
>
> 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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