To Anne:
 
>    Victor is still very weak.  He had blood/urine tests.  It was found that
>he has a lymphopenia (.6 Normal:1.5-7.0) and SGPT (ALT) -something like
>hepatic enzyme?- 385 u/l but the normal is <50 u/l!!!
 
    OK.  Hepatic enzymes are commonly misinterpreted in ferrets.  As ferrets
have the ability to mobilize tremendous amounts of fat to the liver when
needed for energy, the ALT when it is mildly elevated reflects this
physiologic change, rather than a pathologic change, and I think what we are
seeing here is more reflective of this shift in metabolism rather than a
hepatitis.
 
>Please, I would like to receive opinions of Dr Williams and other vets.
>As he has fever but no leucocytes it could be a viral infection, right?
 
    Yes, it could be.  I think you are correct in your feeling that the
lymphopenia may be due to the chronic steroid administration.  But remember,
if we were seeing a bacterial infection like Salmonella (which is very rare
- a lot of what is in Fox's book is based on single outbreaks) we would see
a neutropenia, not a lymphopenia.  Lymphopenia is much more common in
stressed ferrets or those on prednisone.
 
>As the pred interferes with the production of insulin, it can explained
>the hyperglycemia of yesterday, right?
 
    Yes, that's why we give it.  You can't take a blood test following
prednisone administration and expect the glucose not to reflect it...
 
>As the SGPT is quite high, Victor can have liver dammage, right?
 
    Well, the SGPT is not quite high.  Quite high would be 1500.  But this
level of SGPT means more that he has accumulated fat in his liver because he
is using it for energy.
 
>        Can it be a salmonella infection as describe in the book of James
>Fox?  Victor can have been a chronic carrier after an initial infection
>before I adopted him.  This first infection can have produced liver and
>pancreas dammages and as the pred is immunosupressive, the bacteria can
>become active again.  But with that hypothesis, I can't explain the lack
>of leucocytes...
 
    Anne, Salmonella is very uncommon.  It would have to be in his food or
water supply for him to break with it.  There are many other causes of
fever, and neoplasia is always one that should be considered.  in many
cases, we never find the cause of the fever in ferrets.
 
    Let's stick with the antibiotics and the prednisone for a while.  I
don't think that Victor is suffering at this point.  Let's try and get some
food into him, and let the antibiotics take hold....
 
Bruce H. Williams, DVM         Dept. of Veterinary Pathology
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath    Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]         Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
                               [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1252]