Our three year old sable male, Bubba, had a sudden onset of vomiting,
scratching at open mouth and general screeching the likes I''ve never heard
(nor want to again).  A emergency trip to the vet showed ulcerations in the
throat and base of the tongue and basic fecal and blood panels were done.
Positive test for Giardia so he was put on a regimen of Flagyl along with
pediapred...these treatments running concurrently.  Once the Flagyl was
finished, a regular sulpha antibiotic was indicated and that again ran
concurrent with the pediapred (oral).  The antibiotics are finished as is
the oral pediapred...although the vet has given him a regular prednisone
injection now.
 
Bubbas appetite never has come back and except for raisins and ferretone,
we are having to give him sub-Q fluids (LR...about 30cc at a time) and hand
feed him with various vile duck soup concoctions (the usual pedialyte,
ensure, baby food, ground up crunchies, soft food like cat and or ferret as
well as nutrical and some ferretone).  His weight has maintained at about
2.5 pounds (down from his usual 3.2) with aggressive feeding every couple
of hours...we also try and hydrate him orally along with the sub-Q fluids.
 
Several local vets have been consulted and a ferret blood panel was finally
run that showed abnormally high liver enzyme functions from 10s to 1000s
above the norm.  His bilirubin, for example (normal values are 0.2-0.9) is
11.2!
 
Other values excised from the lab report are as follows:
 
GGT 878
AST 499
ALT 3173
SAP 625
 
Local vet says liver neoplasia (cancer) as a real possibility.  Other local
vet is doing a consult with Dr. Williams from Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology as well as a ferret specialist from Univ.  Florida, Gainseville.
Dr. Williams at AFIP seems to think that primary liver disease is a rarity
in ferrets.  He is thinking along the lines of GI tract infection
(ulcers/inflammed intestine) that is allowing transfer of toxins thru the
mucosa and hence on to the liver.
 
Next step appears to be exploratory opening to see what the conditon of his
organs is.
 
Has anyone out there experienced a similar situation with a ffuzzy?  The
loss of appetite is of course very serious (especially since he won't even
drink water) and we have been fortunate to keep him alive this long (almost
a month!) This little guy means the world to us (he is our first fuzzie,
although ferret math has struck and we now have 8!) and the thought of
putting him down (hes still playful and not in obvious pain right now) sets
hard with me.  HELP!
 
If you need the complete lab values, let me know and I will forward to any
who can help!  Thanks from the bottom of our hearts...
[Posted in FML issue 2419]