From:
"cherylnj81"
Date: 2009-02-28 23:35:44 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Update on Linus
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
He is not done yet...yesterday we raised his dose of Metaclopramide to
.3 ml sub-q injection. He started out originally at .1 ml, then .2,
and now where we are at now. He also continues to get the injections
of Cerenia. He is off Prednisolone and gets weekly shots of Depo
Medrol now. He is still on Baytril (2 times a day) and Diflucan (1 a
day). He is on Propulsid orally too. His spleen aspiration came back
w/no signs of lymphoma. Oh, and our vet continues to talk to
specialists at the hospital in NYC we went to, who have quite an
interest in Linus's situation as it is a rare disease (apparently a
lot of what people thing is mega-esophagus is other things that can
have similar symptoms). Oh, and we've also tried treating him with
Addison's disease, AND he got a 4 month Lupron shot (which seem like
opposite medications to me). Basically, every thing a specialist
suggests, we are throwing at Linus because we really have very limited
options left.
Dare I even say he is doing slightly better today? He hasn't thrown
anything up today, but I guess that could be because we are holding
him in our arms, vertically, 90% of the time. He was breathing
heavier two days ago, while we were at the vets it started, so he sat
in the oxygen cage for a couple hours, but his breathing has been
pretty good since.
A vet that I was talking to suggested trying harder/more formed food
instead of liquids, he said he knows in cats and dogs with
mega-esophagus, some of them too better on really soupy stuff and some
actually do better on harder stuff. So we have some of his kibble
soaking and may try it later.
The weird thing is, he is not doing stomach gurgling anymore at all,
he just sounds like he is congested. And his food regurgitates no
matter how long we hold him vertically. This makes me feel the
stomach is involved somehow. I wish we knew more about megaesophagus.
This week, if he gets better, we will be so happy. If he gets any
worse, we are going to our final resort, the feeding tube. I have
been reading some stories of ferrets doing quite well on it, either
temporary ones or permanent ones. Yes they are annoyed the first day
or two, but according to the anecdotal stories, quickly get used to
it. It can help his esophagus heal, we know it must be very painful
for him with all the acid. And it buys us more time to figure out any
underlying problems that caused the mega-e. If the surgery goes
wrong, well....that was the last resort anyway so we will know we did
everything we possibly could.
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