I've posted before about Daisy's sudden, dramatic weight gain due to heart
problems.  Just in case you haven't seen it before, Daisy's history is ...
both adrenal's removed with persisting adrenal problems so she had a 4
month depot of Lupron in December which made all her hair grow back and
vulva swelling disappeared.  In the last six weeks, Daisy has grown in size
from 2 pounds 6 ounces to 3 pounds 3 ounces.  It's also kinda of weird how
she gained that weight, it wasn't like a 1/2 ounce a day, it was more like
nothing for a few days and then all of a sudden she would gain 3 ounces
overnight.
 
Now I'm not so sure it is a problem with her heart.  Here's the story ...
I went to another vet who took and xray and did an EKG on Daisy.  The EKG
was normal and the xray showed: Daisy holding no water weight (of course
she was/is on lasix), a normal size heart with a little fat around it which
may be making it just a little hard for her to breath, and a possible right
adrenal regrowth (about the size of a dime).  The regrowth is right beside
the ligaclips used when her right adrenal was removed.  The vet was unable
to get blood that day.  That vet doesn't think that Daisy has a heart
problem and suggested switching her to Totally Ferret for older ferrets and
weaning her off the lasix to see what happens, but if I notice water weight
to put her right back on it.  She was also really interested to see what
the blood tests would show.
 
I went back to my regular vet and had Daisy's blood tested ... CBC, four
hour fast - glucose, LDH & CPK.  Her glucose was 48, yes, I know this is
low but their was a mix up at the vet's office and I'm not sure if that's
what caused her glucose to be so low.  I'm sure someone will know ... how
much would it effect the glucose level if a four hour fast turned into a
nine hour fast:(???  I'm sure one of my vets will know also but no one is
in today.  Everything else was normal except for the LDH.  (Note - there is
a chance I'm confusing LDH & CPK)  My vet told me that the CPK is related
to the heart and that was normal.  The LDH is related to the heart and the
liver and that is way elevated ... it's supposed to be 600 and some and
it's over 4000.  The other things in the CBC to look at for the liver are
all normal.
 
My questions are:
Could Daisy be gaining all of this weight because of being adrenal?  Could
her body be producing steroids now (because the Lupron shot was over six
months ago) that would cause her to gain weight?
 
Has anyone seen these kind of blood results in their ferret?
 
Does anyone have any ideas???  I really don't think she'll be able to
walk if she gains anymore weight.
 
Poor Daisy, I have her hammock almost on the floor and all she does is
climb in halfway and lay her head down on Pooh Bear.  Her stomach and butt
is outside of the hammock on the carpet.  She has a tent she can go into
also, but she loves her Pooh Bear.
 
I'm going to be away from 7/7 to 7/9, so if you respond, could you please
e-mail me at ...
 
[log in to unmask]
 
 ... so that I can get them while I'm gone.
 
Thank You,
 
Joy
[Posted in FML issue 3105]