Hello everyone!
 
I haven't posted in awhile.  Before I get to the point, please understand
something before judging me for my dilemma/question.
 
Last October, my husband hit me with "he doesn't love me anymore" and
he has a girlfriend and then he threatened to kill me AND MY PETS - (5
cats, 5 ferrets and 2 dogs).  Needless to say, I jumped in the way of
my fuzz-kids and luckily I had the phone in my hand at the time to call
the police.  I was on the phone with my father and he heard the whole
horrifying threat.  I will NEVER forgive him for doing that in my
father's hearing range!!
 
Anyway, he was evicted and a protection from abuse order was issued
against him.  (YES!!!!  Thank the good Lord for some miracles.)  Before
all this, I ended up in the hospital for a bit due to the "situation".
 
Now I am faced with an enormous debt that I know I will NEVER be able to
get out of.  He hid money our whole 16 years of marriage and wracked up
the bills on frivolous things.  But when it came to taking the fuzzies
to the vet, I was "spending money unsupervised" according to him.
WHATEVER!!
 
I am one who full heartedly believes in acquiring a pet IF you have means
to take full care of it.  I also believe in keeping the animal for life!!
I would rather go without food than have my pets suffer!!  In any event,
I was not aware this would be happening to me or I would never have my
pets.
 
I am so far behind on the bills, I know I will soon have to find other
housing....which will be hard considering my debt/ruined credit thanks
to my husband and a place to take 11 pets (one of my cats went to the
rainbow bridge since my husband's departure.)
 
That being said, I have a female ferret, Macie, age unknown, estimated
to be 4 or 5 years old who was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.  June 13,
2005, before this ordeal with my husband, Macie had an ultrasound done
on her heart which revealed the following in the report:
 
"Radiographs do show some generalized moderate cardiomegaly.  The EKG
tracings are of concern, as there are numerous atrial premature complexes
and this would go along with the arrhythmia heard on auscultation.  We of
course, do see cardiomyopathy in this species, as well as metabolic
disease and also hidden underlying neoplasia.  The ultrasound study
revealed no left atrial enlargement.  The fractional shortening is within
normal limits.  There does appear to be left ventricular enlargement
and this could go along with changes that would go along with this
arrhythmia and possible cardiomyopathy.  There is also concern with
systemic-metabolic disease and any metabolic disturbance that may be
present could be causing secondary arrhythmias.  I realize though,
that the animal is not showing clinical signs."
 
There were no medications prescribed for Macie at that point and I
was advised to give taurine in her diet.  I do not fully understand
the taurine and how to give it...so I made sure it was in the food I
give her - Totally Ferret mixed with some IAMS kitten chow.
 
Within in the last month or so, she showed signs of decreased activity
and extreme lethargy, alot of flat-lining and VERY weak.  Macie had an
ECG done on March 1, 2006 which showed her heart was skipping every
second and occasional third beat.  Her heart rate was lower than normal,
I am sorry, I do not recall what the vet said it was.  Macie was
prescribed Theophylline which I had the pharmacist mix in Ferretone
10MG/ML SUSPENSION which is given .35ml twice a day.
 
I do not feel that Theophylline should be the medication used for
treatment for her cardiomyopathy.  Can anyone help me on this?  As
horrible as this may sound, I do not have the funds to have another
ultrasound done.  After talking to her vet, he confirmed all the
ultrasound would show is how far advanced the heart disease is and it
wouldn't change the treatment.
 
I would like to know if there are any other medicines best suited for
cardiomyopathy.  I have searched through some of the archives as well
as google searching for that disease in ferrets.  I want to know which
is best before I call her vet back to ask for another medication.
 
Thank you all for your time.  I do appreciate it.  I apologize for the
length.
 
~Mel
[Posted in FML issue 5174]