Here's the latest installment on Razzle, my poor boy in hospital with
pyelonephritis...
 
Wednesday 12/1 1pm
 
Went in to see him, and bad news, the blood tests showed his BUN hadn't
budged, and his creatinine had shot up to 3.3!  (up from just over 1 on
Monday).  My vet said he was expecting it was possible it could go up
that high, so he wasn't altogether caught off guard.  They'd increased
his Clavamox to 0.5cc's BID, and giving him 50cc's sub-q Lactated Ringers
TID.  He was still dribbling urine, with a lot of blood in it.  His
spirits were still good, and he was very lively, but tired.
 
Thursday 12/02 21pm
 
Well, he'd turned around again and seems to be improving.  I went to see
him and he's dribbling urine still, but there wasn't blood in it anymore,
or very little, and he was acting pretty much like normal!  His eyes were
wide open, he was very perky and active.  Still getting the same amount
of Clavamox and LR's sub-qued, and it looks like I'll be bringing him
home Friday, with instructions on how to sub-q him (oh, boy, the fun my
mate and I are going to have!)
 
Friday 12/03 2pm
 
Blood tests showed BUN has dropped to 63 (still high, but much better,
about 1/2 where it had been), and his creatinine is down to 1.3, still
very high, but back to about where it was Monday, so we're hopeful it
will continue to drop.
 
So I brought him home today, he's still dribbling urine, but there's no
blood in it, so that's a really good sign!  He's down to 50cc's sub-q
once a day, unless he seems to be getting dehydrated again.  He ate a
bunch of thinned-out Duck Soup here at home, since he's been really
liking the Ensure at the vet, and he's been eating and drinking and
poo-ing and peeing just fine (except for the dribblies).
 
I let him see Monty-boo and Jezebel and run around with them for just a
few minutes so he wouldn't get too tired, and he was dooking and playing
just like himself again!  Hooray!  I hope this is a good sign.  He's in
a cage by himself so I can keep a close eye on his intake and output, of
course.  He also had some nasty abscesses/ ulcers on his gums, that was
one of the signs that told the vet what we were looking at with the
uremia, and those seem to have cleared up, as they should.  His feet,
nose and gums aren't red like they were Monday, and he really seems
quite like himself.
 
So...to wrap this up for now, this has been quite an ordeal, and he's by
no means 'out of the woods', since we don't know if this is going to
clear up completely and we'll have to be extra careful with his food and
fluids and monitoring, or if he's going to be in chronic renal failure
and this is the beginning of the end.  I'm still not having any luck
finding info on line about this condition in ferrets, so if anyone has
any advice to offer,*please* let me know!
 
And if anyone knows of any way to magically make a huge vet bill
disappear, that would be helpful, too...looks like there's not going to
be a Christmas for us this year. :(  But at least I'll still have my
Razzle-boy. :)
 
~Sherrie
Razzle ('ahhhh...home again!')
Monty-boo and Jezebel ('what, were you at some kinda *spa* or
something?')
~Still missing Dweezil, my one small star~
[Posted in FML issue 4716]