Hey everyone.

Some of you may recall I posted a couple of months ago that Loki was
diagnosed with immunoblastic polymorphous lymphoma. It's been a long
road even figuring out what treatment to go with, and a lot of ups
and downs along the way, good days, bad days, coughing, lethargy,
fever. Loki had a lymph node removed for biopsy, and once lymphoma was
confirmed, he had surgery to remove his spleen and three tumors in his
abdomen. The spleen and a liver biopsy came back clean, no cancer. He
had lost bladder control prior to surery but got it back right away
after surgery and seemed worlds better. It still took time and research
and more ups and downs but once we finally figured out a treatment plan
he got his first shot of Cytoxan two weeks ago. Since then he has been
on 1.5cc twice per day of prednisolone, 1mg/ml. He's also been on
Clavamox since then because he had a greenish nasal discharge at the
time, 0.25ml 2x/day. He's due for Cytoxan again next Thursday. Loki
currently weights 1 lb 13 oz, though he's been as low as 1 lb 8 oz at
times through this. His lymph nodes started to shrink within days, the
next day in fact for a large one on his neck on the right side. Now
they are down to almost nothing.

He had a fever a few days after his first shot of Cytoxan. His energy
and appetite were good and he was already on Clavamox so I didn't bring
him to the vet right away. When he started to feel poorly I brought him
in the next day but by then the fever broke and he was feeling better.
By Friday last week he was having a new problem, he kept falling over,
always to the right. When walking, eating, or especially if he would
shake his head he would fall over instantly. Brought him back in, by
then he was fine, the vet couldn't find anything wrong. He thought
from the symptoms it was something with his inner ear. He was still
on Clavamox. Friday evening and Saturday morning he was falling over
again, but the vet wasn't available and it gradually cleared up by
Monday.

Since yesterday evening he's walking around with his head tilted 30 to
45 degrees to the right. If something catches his interest he's much
more likely to turn his head to the right than the left, even if he has
to go in a cirle to get a look (though he's perfectly able to walk in a
straight line, just with a tilted head). He doesn't seem to care, still
explores and acts normally, but this is NOT normal. He's still on
Clavamox. Vet is away till Tuesday. My vet's partner refuses to see
him because she doesn't know ferrets, despite my protests, even though
this doesn't seem at all like a species specific problem.

Any advice on what this could be and what we should do? Could it be a
stroke? If so, what do you do for a ferret with a stroke? How do you
even know that's what it is? If not a stroke, then what? He's still on
Clavamox so I wouldn't think an inner ear infection. I wondered about
damage from the fever but this all started a couple days after the
fever ended. His temperature when I was able to take it was 105; I
believe normal is 101-103. Though as I said the fever cleared up
around the middle of last week.

Almost forgot to mention, Loki will be 4 on Halloween. Assumming he
makes it that long.

Please include my home address on any replies so I'll see them right
away. I get the list as a digest and otherwise I won't see them till
tomorrow.

--
John, Caregiver to Loki, Kody and Abby
With loving memories of Buddy, Cassie, Sammy,
Buster, Pandora, Tommy and Jasper

[Posted in FML 7570]