From:
"Susan Liszewski DVM"
Date: 2009-07-06 18:22:56 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Follow up - Sky High bilirubin levels
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Jeff,
Even though he may not be a good surgical candidate you might want to take the risk esp if he keeps relaspsing. You need to see what the problem is. Save the money on ultrasound and just have him/her look inside to see what is going on. Hope your little one comes thru it all. All the best.
Dr. Sue
TLC First Animal Hospital
Chicago, IL 60631
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff" <inner.harmony@...> wrote:
>
> From my original post last Wednesday:
>
> We had to rush Possum to the vet today. In less than 24 hours he went from being seemingly 'normal' in every way to being in extreme distress. His poops were nearly perfect right up until he started to refuse to eat or drink. His urine was also normal until we got him to the vet, at which point his urine was orange in color. The vet did bloodwork right away, and although I don't have all of the results, he told me over the phone that the major concern is a 'sky high' bilirubin level of 18.
>
> ******************
>
> Possum (somewhere around age 3 or 4) is home and doing well. Hopefully he'll continue to do well, but I feel unsure about this. The two main prognoses for his serious illness last week were some kind of liver problem or something with his gall bladder. A barium x-ray showed no blockages in the digestive tract, and in fact he is now back to eating and pooping regularly and the poops themselves are good. The vet bill added up quickly, and since he improved a lot in the 2 days that he was there, we chose to forego the extra $350 that it would have cost for an ultrasound to try to more definitively determine if it was the liver or gall bladder that was the source of the problem. My vet says that gall stones are extremely rare in ferrets, yet the speed with which the whole thing came on has me leaning in that direction. Possum was very malnourished for most of his life before we got him a couple of months ago, which leads me to further believe it may be the gall bladder
/gall stones.
>
> He's on amoxicillin and flagyll for the next 10 days, as well as pepcid to keep his stomach settled. He continues to get his low dose of Prednisolone for suspected insulinoma (BG level 57, tested two different times). He seems pretty much back to normal now, but maybe a little more lethargic, but not to a degree where we are worried. We are keeping a close eye on him in hopes that there is no relapse.
>
> Jeff
> In Memory of Neo and Mr. Parker
> Caring for Trinny, Morphy, Baby Girl, Luna, Dozer, and Possum
>
>
>
> [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/