From:
"SukieC"
Date: 2010-08-16 16:33:18 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Hilbert: just letting you know
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Thank you, Tiffany, and everyone else who replied
privately.
Hilbert got lucky and it is infection, though a very
nasty one with 2 bacteria, E. coli and possibly
Pseudomonas as the other. This infection is likely to
need one or two months with Baytril to clear up but in
case there is any antibiotic resistance further culture
will be done. He is on Baytril now, and he also gets
about 1 mg of Prednisolone three times a day for
worsening insulinoma (what is left of that is in an
inoperable location on the pancreas) so his own
immune responses are reduced as side-effect.
Diazoxide was a very effective med for him in the
past but he hates that one so badly that he was
avoiding us, so we are avoiding that med, at least
for now. In something like 29 years with ferrets
we have found that they do vary some in which meds
they hate and which flavorings they mind most.
His specific gravity (the measure of how much his
urine is concentrating) is okay but certainly not at
great levels. The results were said over the phone
as "ten nineteen". That is certainly functional but
does indicate that he has loss. If the numbers on
this scale get below ten twelve then he will be down
to about 25% to 20% of kidney function. With care
he can live on that much kidney function as a
renal insufficiency patient but it will also depend on
how rapidly be losses function to know how long
he might go that way.
His blood kidney values were fine but as we all have
(or will) read numerous time in past posts and in
the wonderful FHL archives that Pam and Eric have
at
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
blood kidney values can look normal with some
(not all) ferrets until they reach the point of renal
insufficiency.
In my view, given Hilbert's past, more vets should be
getting urine specific gravity on ferrets, especially
older ones and ones due for surgery. The test is easy
and cheap.
At his two week recheck he will get another specific
gravity, another culture, blood work again, pH, and more
meds. His pH always gets checked because he is
prone to cystine stones so approaches others might
use which could make urine more acidic are huge no-nos
for him.
Meanwhile, he is thriving on his medications and still
enjoying life so we are working to give him as much
quality time as possible.
Not too bad for a little guy who was so likely to die in
his first year, has had three near-death situations (all
involving his kidneys and one also involving his pancreas),
but is now approaching his 8th year despite all of those
in his past.
He doesn't have a lot of time left one way or the other, but
we'll make it good time.
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