From:
Michelle Campbell
Date: 2009-06-09 21:41:35 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Adrenal Disease - Inability to Urinate - what more can I do?
To: Ferret Health <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
Gizzie is a 4.5 year old neutered male who has had both adrenal glands removed (the left in Oct 2008 and the right in Jan 2009). He has been on finesteride (propecia) since October 2008 (.5 ml/day) and he has been getting monthly lupron injections since then as well. In March of this year I came home to find him unable to urinate at all. An emergency visit to an area vet followed. The vet put a catheter in to drain his bladder and she also gave a lupron injection. He was put out using isoflorine (spelling?) and when they brought him off of it he went into cardiac arrest. Once he was stable, he was sent home with metacam for pain. I followed up with my regular vet the next morning. Gizzie didn't do well on the metacam - he was like a limp rag doll - so we switched him to buprenex for pain. He was also put on clavamox at that time - a two week course (twice a day). A few days after the visit to this emergency clinic, I was informed there was no
infection in the urine. He was fine till about a month later at which point he again was unable to urinate. This time I went to the vet who performed the adrenal surgery on him. He gave him an injection of butorphinol (again spelling?) and was able to express his bladder. We went home good as new. A follow up visit to the regular vet a day later and he put Gizzie on diazepam (1/8 of a 2 mg tablet once per day). That was April. In May - the 8th to be exact - I noticed Gizzie having trouble urinating again. Knowing we were heading into the weekend, I took him back to the vet who performed the surgery. Again, he gave the butorphinol and expressed his bladder. That very night Gizzie was unable to urinate again. Hours, several phone calls, and lots of diazepam later, I took him to my regular vet. That vet was unable to get a catheter in and was a little spooked about gassing him because of what had happened in March. I gave him the ok to do it
and Gizzie was knocked out. Still unable to get a catheter in, the vet put a needle directly into Gizzie's bladder and drained the urine. An ultrasound done after showed the bladder was still intact. Later in the day the vet was able to get the catheter in and made sure Gizzie's bladder was empty. While all of this was going on, I received some advice from a local ferret expert if you will. She advised putting Gizzie on injectible baytril .4ml twice a day AND dexamethasone once a day. My vet agreed and sent Gizzie home with me and both of those medications. So, we've gone for the past month getting baytril twice a day, the dexamethasone only for the first week after coming home, the lupron was increased to twice a month, diazepam once or twice a day AND the propecia once a day. The baytril was done for a full 4 weeks....as was the diazepam. This past week, there was no batyril and I've been weaning Gizzie off the diazepam as he has been doing
well. We've even gone in to see the vet just to be sure - right around Memorial Day. Last night, Gizzie was unable to urinate again. Off to the surgical vet - an hour away. On the way there, Gizzie urinated in his carrier. The vet decided to go ahead and make sure the bladder was empty. He was able to express more urine out (after a dose of butorphinol). He put Gizzie back on Baytril - indefinitely - and gave him an injection last night. He also gave subq fluids. This morning, Gizzie was able to urinate with no trouble. I did dose him with diazepam since I was going to be gone to work for the morning. This afternoon, he tried several times without success. A warm compress to his belly and light massage did the trick. Both of my vets tell me I'm doing everything I can do to help Gizzie, but I can't help thinking there has to be something else. This email is rather long (and I apologize for that), but I'm hoping someone with some good
knowledge will read it and have some ideas.
Thanks in advance.
Michelle - Gizzie's stressed out Mom
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