Dear JoAnne:
 
>He only got as far as the blood work.  She had very little red blood cells
>and was going to die very soon.  That's when we got our friend's ferret
>to give blood and she will be receiving another transfusion today.
 
>I am hoping that maybe you or someone you know has heard of this happening
>to a ferret and might be able to pass some information of a similar
>experience.  One thing that we are looking into right now is that of
>chlorine bleach.
 
Well, first off, we are dealing with a severe anemia of unknown cause.
There are usually two main possibilities - blood loss and blood
destruction.  The rapidity of onset is most convenient with blood
destruction (which we call hemolytic anemia.) Something either in the
animals environment (usually ingested) or in the animals body is resulting
in the destruction of red blood cells.  In reviewing the literature on
chlorine toxicity, it does not appear as if this is a likely cause -
animals who have been exposed to high levels of chlorine gas have lung
damage and may have ocular burns, neither of which you are mentioning.
 
Hemolytic anemia is uncommon in ferrets, and we know little about it.  The
cause is not currently known; it may be associated with a compound or drug
that the animal has recently been exposed to, which has altered the normal
components of the red cell membrane, imitating a foreign substance, and
causing the body to attack its own red cells.
 
Dr. C. should have additional information on the lboodwork, such as the
level of the hemoglobin in the blood - usually markedly elevated over
one-third of the hematocrit, levated bilirubin (a breakdown product of
RBC's) or a red-color plasma which supports a hemolytic origin.  In such
cases, we generally start treatment immediately with high doses of steroids
to try to knock out the bodies immune reaction to its own cells - 2 mg/lb
is a starting dose, and we often go as high as 5 mg/lb.
 
Unfroatunately, the prognosis for hemolytic anemia is not good.  In most
cases, we lose up to half of the bodies store of red blood cells before
the disease is even noticed, and transfused cells are lost as quickly as
the ferrets own cells.  Rarely, an animal responds to hi-dose steroids
until its body can regenerate the cells, bu as the cause is generally not
discovered, the process occurs again when the steroids are diminished or
discontinued.  Hemolytic anemias of this type in other animal species
generally fare little better in the long run.
 
Wish I had better news, but it is a disease I have had little luck with.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3264]