From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2008-10-21 17:05:49 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Baby's Bloodwork
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
Make sure that the lab is giving FERRET values.
With author's standing permission to me:
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/Clin_Path/ClinPath.html
says in the liver section:
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.
END QUOTED SECTION
Dr. Bruce Williams is a ferret veterinary pathology expert, one of the
world's best.
The complete article and many other resources at that site will likely
interest you and your vet.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/