From:
"soma2314"
Date: 2009-08-06 20:46:24 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Sick ferret, fatigue, odd bloodwork etc
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi,
My ferret Gordo woke up one morning about 8 weeks ago with yellow crust around his eyes and some feces stuck to his fur. I noted it and decided to keep an eye on it. He is 3 years old and is a big ferret. He began overeating about a year ago, so much so that he looks very fat and recently I have noticed him falling asleep in the food bowl so I decided to decrease feed. This crusty eyes and feces on fur did not go away and he seemed to quit playing with the other ferrets instead choosing to laying down flat on hard floor areas anytime he is let out of his house to play with his siblings and now actually lays down to rest everytime he stops for even a moment. He weighs around 3.6 lbs and in the past 2 weeks I noticed he was not losing weight and getting more and more lethargic and his lymphnodes looked swollen. Took to vet and they were concerned about lymphoma when they felt his lymphnodes. Tried to aspirate but only got fat 3x so they gave up. Did xrays and found nothing exce
pt alot of food in his digestive tract and the heart being pushed up somewhat by fat and the area near the heart having a bigger gap than usual but vet said it could be caused by too much fat also. I thought that ferrets had a fast digestive tract and food went through in 45 minutes? Is that correct? If so why would he be so full of food in his digestive area? Vet mentioned possible benign tumor in pancreas could cause this overeating? Wants to remove a lymphnode for biopsy and do an ultrasound? I am on a serious budget and have already spent $400 yesterday with another $400 set for the rest of the tests and was hoping for some help. When he was younger a wonderful person in the forums on ADV ferrets saved him by their help and I am hoping someone might be able to shed some light or direction again? We do not have many vets that really specialize in ferrets so much so that the vet had to run a printout on how long they live because she said maybe he is just old at 3 years of
age and I have ferrets twice his age that are just as spunky as they ever were.
Bloodwork returned today:
Mammalian profile
WBC= 5.6 10/3 AVG. (2.5-8)
RBC= 9.0 10/6 AVG. (6.5-11)
HGB= 18.4g AVG. (15-19)
HCT= 58.0% AVG. (43-55) HIGH
MCV= 65.0 fl AVG. (50-65)
MCH= 20.3 pg AVG. (16.5-20) HIGH
MCHC=32.0% AVG. (32-35)
RBC Morphology NORMAL
Neutrophils= 70% AVG. (50-80)
Abs Neutrophils= 3920.0
Lymphocytes= 22.0% AVG. (20-50)
Abs Lymphocytes= 1232.0
Monocytes= 5.0% AVG. (0-3) HIGH
Abs Monocytes= 280.0
Eosonophils= 3.0% AVG. (0-1) HIGH
Abs Eosinophils= 168.0
Basophils= 0.0% AVG. (0-1)
Abs Basophils= 0
Platelet Est. Adequate
Platelet count= 291.0 10/3
SGOT(AST)= 85.0 IU/L AVG. (50-260)
SGPT(ALT)= 292.0 IU/L AVG. (10-280) HIGH
Bilirubin= 0.2 mg/dL AVG. (0-1)
Alkaline Phosph= 47.0 IU/L AVG. (15-45) HIGH
Total Protein= 8.4 g/dL AVG. (5.5-7.6) HIGH
Albumin= 3.6 g/dL AVG. (2.4-4.5)
Cholesterol= 225 mg/DL AVG. (60-300)
BUN= 29. mg/dL AVG. (10-33)
Creatinine= 0.3 mg/dL AVG. (0.2-0.8)
Phosphorous= 5.1 mg/dL AVG. (4.2-8.5)
Calcium= 9.4 mg/dL AVG. (7.7-11)
Glucose= 123 mg/dL AVG. (80-120) HIGH (fasting)
Sodium= 152. mEq/L AVG. (140-160)
Potassium= 4.9 mEq/L AVG. (4.3-5.8)
Chloride= 114. mEq/L AVG. (90-110) HIGH
CPK 401. IU/L
Globulin= 4.8 g/dL AVG. (2.9-4.9)
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