From:
"Mary"
Date: 2009-02-22 02:47:00 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Please help if possible, Bear now anemic
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I have a very wonderful, but very sick Mckid. He has been sick since
November, three months, and his symptoms just keep changing.I have a
wonderful vet whom I trust. I am going to try to briefly outline
Bear's symtpoms, but it's so confusing it's hard to be brief. He
first got sick when the terrible new virus was raging. At first we
weren't sure if that's what it was.
Nov 10- wellness exam, rabies booster, weight 3.95, clean bill of
health, in fact, vet was very impressed with how wonderful Bear looked
Nov 20 diarrhea started, talked to vet several times, treated with
pedialyte.Playing, eating, acting normal.
Dec 4 to vet, fecal normal, exam normal, glucose normal 120. Vet
recommended diet change, thinking IBD. Bear's major diet is Bob
Church's Chicken Gravy, w/ free kibble (totally ferret, solid gold,
evo, wysong.)Removed Bob Church's (vet was afraid it was tainted, or
he had an allergy). Diarrhea continued. Other 4 Kids healthy. He
would scratch and dig and run like mad after eating.
Dec 20 -vomiting and diarrhea at same time, dehydrated. To LOCAL (not
mine)non-ferret vet(of course it's late Saturday)-blood glucose
normal, xray normal, fecal normal, fluids given. Thought we were
going to lose him, diarrhea running down my shirt. STRANGE THING IS
NEXT MORNING HE IS DOOKING AND WAR DANCING, AND ATTACKING ME
JOYFULLY.
Put him back on Bob Church's as taking it away is what really seemed
to send him in a downward spin. Made new batch with high quality
control(I always do that anyway), w/out bones. None others sick.
The first month of this he went back and forth, sometimes bad
diarrhea and other times pooping, eating and playing normal, but the
Diarrhea always returned.
Dec 23 - Now giving fluids regularly. Took him to my vet: glucose
normal, total blood workup, all normal except low potassium, exam
normal, fecal normal. More fluids given before we left. Got home he
was a rag doll and non responsive. Gave karo, gave fluids, put on
warm pad, force fed, perked up w/in 3 hours, NEXT MORNING HE IS WAR
DANCING AND PLAYING. Diarrhea continues. Put on fluids w/added
potassium, and an antibiotic (both injectable and oral).
Dec 26- now very, very sick, stinky diarrhea, dehyrdated (gave him
fluids 2x daily since last crash), vomiting, teeth grinding. Started
Albon and Carofate, and, for a day-pain meds. Seemed to calm things
down.
Dec 29 took him north for second opinion.He was doing so much better
since Albon begun. This ferret vet thought Bear was wonderful. Poops
normal at this point. She looked over his blood work,xrays, examined
him, and felt all was normal. Gave him an injection of low dose pred
depot. It was decided it had to be a form of coccidea and we went
home.
Finished up the Albon (14 days). Three days later diarrhea returned,
obvious discomfort (digging in carpet, scratching, scurrying,
squatting). Fluids and support given, and carafate. Continued with
this program. Then able to discontinue fluids. Diahhrea off and on.
Jan 15- Back to my vet, diarrhea only occasionally, but now wasting.
Lost weight (started at 3.95, now 2.12), weak, lethargic, anorexic.
Vet felt too far down for exploratory. Sent poop off to lab for
thorough testing for parasites, bacterias, etc. Lab found nothing.
Put him back on Albon (1 ml/day for 30 days),started back on fluids 2
x day.
Over the next couple of weeks his diarrhea became more "normal" - no
copious amounts of fluid in it, and normal amount instead of every
couple hours. Starts acting extremely hungry. Began eating kibble
again as well as his Bob Church's. Stopped fluids.
But during this time he goes from always hungry to lethargic and
anorexic.
Feb. 7 - Threw up in the morning after breakfast. Back to vet, had
gained 5 oz, up to 3.01. Doesn't seem agitated after eating, no
digging in everything. Still on Albon (30 day treatment). Discuss
exploratory, vet reluctant to do it as Bear is gaining weight and
diarrhea gone. However now he hears a heart murmer he never heard
before, and is doubly concerned about doing surgery w/murmur. Also I
had found two bloody poops that morning, but wasn't positive whose it
was. But that night watched Bear pass bloody poop, this followed
several totally normal ones in between. Not alot of blood, but a few
red streaks and couple little red mucus balls (frank).
Feb. 12: Back for Ultrasound of abdomen and chest - normal, no heart
disease, all organs and digestive tract look normal. But his blood
sugar (not checked since Dec.) is 245. Symptoms are: anorexic (have
to get him up to eat, he won't eat on his own), mild occassional
diarrhea, spaced out, weakness, lethargy.
At home I check his urine several times daily for sugar, always
negative.
Through out this Bear became more lethargic and weak. He does not
get up, I get him up, feed him, and he goes back to bed. Last night I
had to give him fluids for the first time in almost a month. This
morning he was walking and toppled over on his side and just laid
there. I can feel his heart beating when I hold him. No playing or
recovering anymore; diarrhea is very infrequent.
He was put on Enacard yesterday in the hopes of helping his heart so
we could do exploratory next week, as we don't know what else to do.
Today vet said stop it since murmur from anemia, not helping.
Today b/c of how bad he was and the toppling over, we went back down
to vet. He is now anemic (gums looked good 2 weeks ago, but blood
test not done since end of Dec). Surgery cancelled. Dec. 23 red blood
cells were 52.7%, today 8.5%. Blood sugar also 304, but urine glucose
negative. Weight today 3.30, more gain. Last ditch effort of pred in
case it's the immune system type anemia. Does not appear to be in
pain, but very weak and anorexic. I am to give him a couple days on
the pred, but I am not sure he will make it through the night. He is
completely lethargic and not willing to eat (have been hand feeding
for weeks).
At some point through this he was put on pred 2 mg/day to see if it
was IBD, but was not responsive. Can't remember when that was.
What is so hard is he was so sick with diarrhea and vomiting, got
that taken care of yet it seemed to then "change track" to murmur and
anemia and high sugar. The reason exploratory was never done was at
first vet thought it was IBD since he was so healthy and would be
fine, then sick, then fine, then sick. Then he seemed to be really
getting better. Then he was gaining weight. My vet could not see
doing exploratory on a ferret who was now gaining weight and diarrhea
gone. But when the lethargy started we scheduled it (Bear and I just
can't go on like this forever)...now the murmur and the cause of
that - the anemia.
The ONLY OTHER THING THAT MAY BE SIGNIFICANT is insulation wrapped
water pipes in garage (no cars in garage, just storage). The
insulation that is made to fit over the pipes,stryofoam sort of,but
squishy. I thought they were out of reach (3 ft up). However Bear
found a way up there and chewed a large section off. I caught him
doing it about a month or more ago,during all this sickness,on one of
his good days. He did not eat it, though I am sure just to chew it
off, some would be consumed. My vet does not think this would cause
a problem at this point, and I can't find anything on line about foam
pipe wrap and toxicity. I wrapped the pipes in duct tape to be safe
and am kicking myself for not knowing it was a problem.
Why would he suddenly get anemic and develop high blood sugar at the
same time?
Sorry so long, but does anyone have any ideas? Or am I looking at
another sorrow? I lost my old dear Bianka Tuesday to lymphoma. Does
this sound like Intestinal lymphoma? Vet says anemia is probably
cancer. I don't want him to suffer.
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