From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2011-07-11 17:38:20 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Zephyr (8 y/o with A/V node heart block and cardiomyopathy)
To: ferrethealth <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
Hi, everyone,
I'm writing this while waiting at the vet office. Zephyr, my 8 - 8.5
year old female spayed ferret who had insulinoma surgery earlier
this year, had an incident where she collapsed, as in was completely
limp and unresponsive. After she started to recover for a bit she
started screaming like I've never heard a ferret scream before -- loud
and ear piercing and totally frightening to hear. I spoke to the vet
on the phone and she thought hypoglycemia and I did give Zephyr some
Karo Syrup which didn't help immediately.
Zephyr had a chest X-ray, blood work, and an ECG done today.
Ultrasound was not available today so we had to put that off. The
results so far: Zephyr has either severe level 2 or level 3 A/V note
heart block and cardiomyopathy. Her vet says which one is pretty
much academic at this point. Her heart is moderately enlarged and she
has fluid both in and around the lungs. She is experiencing episodes
of syncope. Zephyr's heart rate is only 56 today.
Zephyr's blood glucose was 195, probably due to the Karo Syrup I gave
her when we thought we were dealing with an insulinoma seizure. I
have been monitoring her blood glucose at home and she has been in or
near the normal range on her current dosage which will not change.
Our vet believes that insulinoma is not part of the issue I saw today.
We are starting Zephyr on furosemide and enalapril (sp?) for her
cardiomyopathy and Animophylline for the heart block. I also have to
buy a stethoscope to monitor her heart rate. The plan is to see if
the medications result in any improvement over the next week and to
decide then whether or not to go ahead with an ultrasound next week.
Our vet is going to send me more detailed information later which I
can share if it's helpful.
This absolutely floors me because she was running around playing
normally last night. She just recently started climbing again for the
first time since she was diagnosed with insulinoma last year.
Regards,
Caity
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