On June 12, 2007 my precious 5 1/2 yr old, Treeroo, earned his wings
after battling lymphoma. Shortly after Treeroo passed away I noticed
Macie (female; estimated to be 5 yr old) seemed extra puffy around her
neck lymph nodes. I thought I was paranoid with just losing Treeroo to
lymphoma. One day she was puffy and the next it was hard to tell. Macie
has had cardiomyopathy since the summer of 2005 and is on Theophylline
in Ferretone 10MG/ML sus - Given 0.35ml twice daily.

I took Macie to the vet last Thurs, July 26, 2007, because she was
vomiting. Her lymph nodes on her neck WERE enlarged. The vet definitely
agreed that Lymphoma is a possibility. X-rays did not reveal anything.

Macie was put on the following 2 meds: TRIB Suspension per ml - Give
0.45 cc or ml every 12 hrs & METROCLOPRAMIDE SOL PER ML - Give 0.25 cc
or ml every 8 - 12 hours. The biopsy from Macie's lymph node on the
right side of her neck came back inconclusive. Not enough lymphatic
tissue was taken. Now a biopsy would have to be taken from one of her
legs which would require sedation and possible hospital stay. I am
leery about putting her under because of her heart condition.

Monday evening Macie started getting greenish and mucousy diarrhea. It
did not seem like ECE.

Tuesday Macie was put on METRONIDAZOLE 50MG/ML - Give 0.3 cc or ml
every 12 hrs. By Wednesday morning I knew Macie HAD to be seen ASAP ~
aside from not eating (which she was eating up until this point) her
diarrhea had gotten so much worse to the point it was white and foamy
and mucousy! Nothing was being digested. What little baby food I
managed to get her to eat just came right back out looking like baby
food. She lost nearly 3 oz in less than a week. PLUS her skin coloring
was almost purplish blue. I was thinking her heart, but the vet said
that was the steadiest Macie's heart sounded in a while! By the time
we got to the vet her skin color was VERY dark pink. The vet had never
seen that before. I could tell she was very concerned about Macie and
said she would consult with ferret expert vets. I am comfortable with
the vet practice since they see quite a few ferrets, but on occasion,
I take my ferrets to a very ferret knowledgeable vet which is a 4 hour
drive one way from where I live.

Needless to say Macie was admitted to the hospital and administered
IV fluids. A blood test indicated possible lymphatic hepatitis and
possible kidney failure. It is possible some of the blood values may be
off because of dehydration. In that case it could just be a bad case of
IBD. I did not think to get a copy of the blood results, but plan to.

Macie came home Friday evening. She had been drinking and eating
willingly! Plus her diarrhea was looking more like normal ferret
diarrhea rather than undigested food. Her lymph nodes are not quite
as swollen. Could the IV fluids have caused the enlarged lymph nodes
to go down???

Poor Macie was put on yet another med - DENAMARIN - Give 1 tablet
every 3 days on an empty stomach. Wait 1 hour to feed post pill.

Macie had a rather bad evening last night. Her diarrhea is getting
worse again! It literally goes right through her in a matter of
minutes! It's like I opened the jar of baby food and poured it right
into the litter! Her tummy seemed to be jumping or twinging. She kept
scooting her butt I think because she was sore from going to the
bathroom so much! Overall she just seemed very agitated!

I weighed her and in total, she lost 4.5 oz!!! Macie had always and
forever weighed 1 lb 13 oz and is now 1 lb 8.5 oz. She is very frail
and extremely bony. I am so worried about her. Macie goes for follow-up
blood work in two weeks to see where things are at.

I know without seeing blood results it is hard to know, but does anyone
have any ideas as to what may be wrong or can be done based on the info
I provided? There have been ferret expert vets consulted, but I just
want to see if anyone else may have any suggestions or if something
may have been missed or not thought of.

Thank you for your time and I apologize this was rather long.

Regards
Melanie

[Posted in FML 5691]