Hello to all my FML friends.
 
Once again I write to ask you for good thoughts and prayers for one of my
fur kids.Casey is losing his hair and his weight.  Up until a couple of
days ago he was still eating and drinking, and pooping just fine.  He was
still getting out for play time and was still relocating his toys from
one hidey hole to another.  A couple of days ago, or at least I thought
it was only a couple of days ago, he stopped eating his kibble.  I have
been feeding duck soup for over a month, because I thought he had lost
some weight, and last night he stopped eating that.  I have been getting
up every 3 hours to try to feed him but since midnight all he will take
is water.  I took the day off work and took him to the vet at noon.  That
was the earliest I could get in.  My vet is an hours drive away.
 
Our visit to the vet was not as hopeful as I thought it would be.
Naturally Cathy couldn't do too much until she had done blood work.  I
was convinced that I would be putting Casey to sleep while I was down
there, that is how sick I thought he was.  Cathy suggested that we do
blood work.  He has lost just over a half of a pound, and is very weak.
I went to push some more fluids on, just before I took him to the vet and
he was in his litter box.  He had fallen over and couldn't get up.  He
was trying to get his skinny little butt into the corner and was really
struggling.  I had to hold him up to do his business.  I tried to get him
to take some warmed water and he cried, so I didn't force him.  I wished
I had the stuff to do sub Q fluids on him, but the stuff I had was so
outdated, I threw it away when I moved.
 
On the initial examination, He had a fever, he was dehydrated, he had no
masses in his abdomen, but was really weak and only wanted to sleep.
Cathy told me to leave him there and she would do the blood work and we'd
talk and decide from there what to do.  She said he was a really sick
little guy.  Her initial thought was a blood disease like haemolytic
anemia, or leukemia, or insulinoma, or kidney failure, or liver failure.
She couldn't tell me at that point whether he was treatable, and we
discussed the other option.  I told her that I would like to give him a
chance if she thought he had a chance, so I left him there.  I was to
call later this afternoon and we would take it from there.  We also
decided that if euthanasia was the only route, I needed to be with him,
so it would be done at the end of her day tomorrow,which would be around
1 pm.
 
I phoned this afternoon and it looks like he may be treatable, so we
are going to try.  I need to give him every chance possible and I pretty
sure he was not in any pain.  His blood work was consistent with a ferret
who hasn't been eating for awhile.  His blood sugar was only 1.6 and it
should be 5.5 to 11.5.  Cathy thinks we are probably dealing with
insulinoma so she gave him a shot of a drug, I think she called
dexamethasone.  She said it would help get his blood sugar up.  They
were able to feed him 12 ml of food.  They started him on prednisone
and did some sub Q fluids.  She said she will concentrate on feeding
and rehydrating him and will try to get him stable enough to send home
tomorrow, where I will concentrate on his eating and meds.  She also
started him in an antibiotic because his white cells were elevated,
indicating, the possibility of an infection.  His red blood cells and
platelets were OK, his liver enzymes were borderline and kidney function
was borderline.  All of this could also be a result of not eating.  Cathy
is not saying he will respond to this treatment, he is still a very sick
little boy, and not out of the woods yet.  At least I have a little more
hope than I had this morning
 
Please keep my boy in your prayers. I will keep you updated.
 
Missing 9 "Little Angels" @ the Bridge
Sally St. Germain and her 10 "Little Saints"
Hi.....my name is Sally.....I am a ferret-a-holic!!!!!
[Posted in FML issue 4080]