Back in April, Scooter had an x-ray because of a "flying saucer" in
his tummy. When the x-ray was developed, we saw something we hadn't
expected at all - an enlarged, rounded heart. Shortly afterwards,
we started him on pedia pred for the lump in his tummy (suspected
lymphosarcoma). Shortly after that, he became VERY lethargic - so
bad we thought he might die. So we started him on lasix for his heart,
and he went back to nearly normal.

Fastforward to three weeks ago. Benny had been acting "off," so I took
him in for some bloodwork (I suspected insulinoma). After listening to
his heart, my vet said she wanted to do an x-ray instead: he had an
irregular heartbeat. On x-ray, Benny's heart was also enlarged, even
more so than Scooter's, and his lungs had fluid in them. We started
him on lasix and amoxicillin.

My vet said she wanted to do an EKG on both ferrets. We started looking
around for a vet who could do one.

Two weeks after Benny started his meds, both ferrets went back in for a
checkup and to have blood drawn for a heartworm test. My vet was very
pleased with the way both of them looked...she said Benny's heartbeat
was even back to normal. They drew blood for the test, which I wanted
done even though everyone kept telling me how unlikely it was that they
had heartworm (it is uncommon in this area, not to mention I had not
seen a single mosquito at the time Scooter got sick - though I have
seen some in the past couple weeks).

Today the results came in - Benny came back negative, Scooter came back
positive. The vet says the positive doesn't necessarily mean he has
heartworm - he could have just been exposed. I'd like to believe that,
but honestly it's just too much coincidence for me to have much hope.

My vet wants to start them on some sort of medication Monday just in
case. We found a vet in Detroit who can do an EKG for us - now it is
just a matter of scheduling.

Anyway, I have a lot of questions. Like what the treatment is for
heartworm in ferrets, and what the success rate is? Is it horrible?
Both of these guys came to me from the same home last October - is
it possible they have had it for that long, or did they 100% for sure
catch it in my house? (I have five other ferrets, not to mention cats,
and I am terrified for them as well even though none of them have
displayed symptoms of heartworm or other heart issues) Any other
information I should know?

Please keep us in your prayers.

x-posted everywhere I can think of (forgive me if you see it multiple
times)

[Posted in FML 5634]