To Debbie Riccio:
 
>Her specific gravity was 1.014 which he thought was low.
 
     Yes, that is low, but it certainly could just be because she had
drunk a fair amount of water within the last few hours.
 
>He wants me to withhold food and water for 10 hours - TEN - to see if her
>urine will concentrate.
 
    How about just another random sample - it may be better.  Or instead,
hold her off water for four hours and take it.  If it is still low, try
again a few days later for 6 hours, and then finally for ten.
 
>He said this will tell us more than blood tests - that by the time blood
>tests show elevation of BUN and Cr, damage has already been done.
 
    That is often true.  We see decreased urine specific gravity when 66%
of the kidney is non-functional, where it takes 75% to cause elevations
in BUN and creatinine.
 
>Do you agree with this protocol and do you have any other suggestions or
>comments?
 
    Debbie - at seven years of age, I would suspect that she is exhibiting
fair wear and tear on her kidneys.  We know that older ferrets commonly
have decreased renal function simply due to the kidney wearing out.
Additionally, I would run an analysis on the urine to look for the
presence of infections.  Female ferrets may harbor subclinical urinary
tract infections which may end up as renal infections and eventually
become life-threatening.  Often the first signs we have are elevations of
the BUN and decreased urine specific gravity.
 
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 1223]