From:
"Amy"
Date: 2009-11-30 22:06:20 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Heartworms?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hello everyone,
I'm new to the group, and I have 2 ferrets. Lilian is a 3.5yo female and Makodo is a 4.5yo male.
Makodo has been sick since about November 5th. He started acting lethargic and had diarrhea so I took him to the vet on November 7th, by which time he had lost weight and started having green urine.
She did some blood work on him and we found out that he was severly anemic, with his red blood cell count at 17% (she said healthy would be 45-55%). She wanted to do a transfusion but we had no donor ferret (Lilian is 1.1 lbs), so she ran a test (that I can't remember the name of) and found out that he is regenerating red blood cells at a rate that's higher than normal, so that's good.
She also discovered that he has a murmur.
She sent him home with Amoxi drops, Sulcrafate, and Metronidazole all for 2 weeks (if it's usful I can post the dosage, I just don't know it off hand).
I also started assist feeding him a 'duck soup' kinda thing (mostly his regular food in a soft form).
He slowly improved but he never got back to his normal energy level, never quite gained all his weight back, and his urine didn't return to it's normal color for 1.5 weeks.
A couple days after the 2 week medication ended, and I stopped assist feeding him because he was eating well on his own, he started to decline again. On the 23rd I thought he seemed tired after a very short play time, and on the 24th his green urine was back. He also was having visible trouble breathing.
When I took him back on the 24th his she felt something on his side that had not been there before, and sure enough the x-rays showed some type of tumor near his kidney. X--rays also showed some fluid around his lungs but not in his lungs, and she put him on Lasix. He is still on Lasix and the vet wants to keep him on it long term. His red blood cell count was up to 21%; still anemic, and not as high as would be expected considering the rate at which he was regenerating. He still has his murmur, and x-rays showed a bit of an enlarged heart.
She recommended an ultrasound of his heart and abdomen, but because of the cost I had to choose just one at the time, so we went with heart. He had his echocardiogram on the 28th and it wasn't very helpful. They didn't find any heartworms, just some heart enlargement, but of course heartworms can't be ruled out. That's what she thinks the problem is at this point-heartworms.
Is there a reliable way to test for heartworms in ferrets?
She wants to put him on a daily dose of predisone (which would also be the treatment of choice if the tumor turns out to be lymphoma), and a monthly sub-q injection of ivermectin. Does that sound like a good treatment option? Are there other forms of ivermectin that can be given to ferrets or does it even matter? Any advice would be appreciated, and I will be checking the archives.
Thanks,
Amy
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