From:
"weezilarchy"
Date: 2008-06-17 21:32:20 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] cardio vs. cancer
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
My gal Sally has dilated cardiomyopathy (well, we assume it's dilated;
haven't done an ultrasound, but her heart is large and round on x-ray).
She's been on a pretty high dose of lasix which is taking a lot out of
her. My backup vet added enalapril to the mix while my regular vet was
gone because she wasn't doing very well on lasix alone. My regular vet
came back today and she got a third set of X-rays (I wanted to see if
the fluid accumulation in her chest appeared to have gone down more),
because the lasix seems to be taking a lot out of her and I'd like to
lower the dose if we can.
Well, now there is a mass visible on the X-ray again. It showed on the
first, but not on the second, so my vet hoped it was just a pocket of
dense fluid. But now he's advising me to take her off the lasix
entirely and start her on prednisone for the mass in hopes that it's
something that will be responsive.
Now, my understanding is that pred is a dangerous thing to be giving
an animal with congestive heart failure. And I do love my vet, but he
tends to be pretty liberal in advising the use of pred. In most cases,
I'd say that pred is worth a try -- unlikely to have any serious
effects in the short-term and we could do follow-up X-rays to see if
the tumor was responding. But in this case, it could increase her risk
of heart attack, right? And I don't believe it makes sense to take her
off the lasix entirely -- her breathing is still more shallow and
rapid than is normal, though it is not as bad as it was when her
cardio was first diagnosed (about a month ago now).
I haven't spoken with him directly yet -- the boyfriend took her in
today -- and we should have bloodwork results tomorrow to compare to
some from 10 days ago. But am I wrong in thinking his advice is a
little off-base? And has anyone here treated a ferret with pred while
also treating cardio?
Of course I'm about to go out of town for my mother's wedding, which I
can't exactly skip, to make matters worse. So I may be trying to
orchesrtate some of this long-distance with my friends who are
watchign the weez for me.
Anyway ... help?
-Kat
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