>My son has recently taken over caring for a ferret with cardiomyopathy for
>the Kansas Ferret Association.  He was diagnosed almost 2 years ago and was
>the KFA told that he had about 6 months to live.  He is still doing well,
>in fact at the last check up, the vet said his heart sounded very good -
>strong.
 
The mixture you are giving sounds good.  I have heard good things about
some of the ingredients when it comes to cardiomyopathy.
 
Is this ferret on any medicines as well?  I can share what has worked for
my little Gabrielle.  She was diagnosed last August and given 6 months -- I
think that's the standard thing they say, isn't it? <g>  I was devastated
and casting about for anything that might help her.  In the end, we decided
not to go the herbal route, because Gab simply won't take it.  She is an
extremely finicky little thing, and I wasn't going to fight a sick ferret
tooth and nail over getting this stuff down the throat.  Anyway, we decided
to go the medical route, and let me tell you!  We have had her since August
on a combination of digoxin, enacard, and lasix, and she is doing *great*.
Enacard is a somewhat new drug, and I think they're discovering that it,
especially in combination with other drugs, just does wonders for
cardiomyopathy patients.  (I've heard the same stuff about its use in
humans, and in cats -- one of our cats developed a terrible murmur and was
put on enacard, and now she has no detectable murmur at all.)
 
Anyway, to make a long story short, we took Gab to the v-e-t- last week,
and her latest x-rays show that her heart has actually *decreased* in
size!!!  She also no longer has any detectable murmur.  We are ecstatic.
She seems to feel fine and plays and runs like her usual little weasely
self.  So I can't recommend this combo of drugs enough -- they aren't very
expensive, and I know they've worked for us.
 
-Tasha
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
R. Natasha Mohr, [log in to unmask]
http://www.geocities.com/ferrets_r_fun
[Posted in FML issue 3079]