Sunny, my little six year old whose blood wouldn't clot following an
insulinoma surgery, is doing extremely well.  To briefly recap, she had one
transfusion and another surgery on Tuesday to pack her abdominal cavity
with sterile gauze soaked in saline in order to apply pressure to stop the
bleeding from the inside.  After the transfusion and second surgery, her
PCV began to rise slowly as the bleeding was stopped.
 
She was kept pretty sedated and needed to be force fed and kept warm with
external heat sources on Wed and Thurs.  Her temp was as low as 96 degrees.
By Friday morning, she was much perkier and had warmed up a bit but was
still below 100.  A third surgery was done to remove the gauze packing,
and she is infinitely better now.  Only a few hours after that surgery, her
temp is up to 101, and she is pretty bright and active.  I only have to
force the first bite of Bob C's chicken gravy on her, and then she'll eat
it herself if I hold her and the dish.
 
Anyway, my vet thinks she's turned the corner and will be fine.  Big thanks
for the supportive messages and for ideas on helping her recover.
 
Here's what I've learned, in case anyone might be interested...
[disclaimer: I'm not a vet.]  This kind of bleeding problem doesn't seem to
be very common, but it is *devastating* when it happens.  Seems to happen
more with older ferrets.  I heard from five people who had strikingly
similar cases (I know, sample size way too small to say very much), and
only two of those fuzzies made it.  All were under the care of excellent
vets.  Transfusions, Vitamins B and K injections, pressure bandages, and
this gauze packing surgery if there's time seem to be key; it is a very
difficult situation.  Sunny was in really good shape before the surgery
(healthy weight, only really mild insulinoma, no other serious health
problems), and I think this plus the aggressive treatment helped her pull
through.  We came very close to losing her... tears for those who didn't
make it... this is such a frightening problem...
 
Blessings and warm thoughts to all,
-Pam S.
[Posted in FML issue 2993]