This email was written last week and my heart is too heavy to rewrite a
new one so I've edited for this list.  I distributed the original to the
Cardiomyopathy mailing list but have not had any responses.  If anyone on
this list, vet or owner would like to share their experiences, I would love
to hear them.
 
Sigh...I can't believe I'm actually writing this.  Just this past weekend
while studying for my (2nd year vet) cardiology final I heard a cough from
one of my babies..a *very* distinctive cough.  I knew what it was but
everyone was telling me I was just hearing it cause I was studying it.
So, like a good little student I picked up my stethescope, felt for the
PMI/apical beat and listened.  There is was, loud and clear, a murmur:
mitral regurg.  I must have sat with Bugsy on my chest for 1/2 hour on more
than one occassion just listening as if magically it might disappear, or
magically it could be something, *anything* else.  And, yes, there were
faint possibilities -maybe my stethescope (pediatric) was (still) too big
and that *really*wasn't* the left apex - maybe it was just a physiologic
flow murmur, maybe it had been there all along and all the vets who
listened to him just hadn't put their stethescope in the right place ..
sigh..   maybe..  ..maybe ..maybe.
 
Well, echos and rads were done, and here's the summary (for any vets or
anyone interested):
 
Auscultation: Left apical murmur (guessing about 2-3/6), sinus arrhythmia,
gallop, premature beats ?with compensatory pauses, heart rate: average at
home was about 200-220.
 
Echo:
*severely enlarged left atrium; LA was about 3x the size of the Aorta
(should be 1:1 on small animals)
slightly enlarged left ventricle and interestingly, no right-sided heart
failure (as I understand, it's very common for both sides to be affected in
dilated cardiomyopathy)
*mitral regurg and an Ejection Fraction of 20%. (for those of you who may
not be familiar with echos and terminology -Ejection Fractions are measures
of the function of the left ventricle and 30-50% is "normal"; this is what
is affected in dilated cardiomyopathy.  The left ventricle loses it's
ability to effectively pump blood)
 
Given the size of his left atrium and the EF, there is a suspicion of
primary valve disease on top of the cardiomyopathy.  The resident didn't
think 20% was *that* bad - ie: the atrium was larger than the (lack of)
function would indicate)
 
Rads showed pulmonary venous congestion (along with cardiomegaly and a HUGE
left atrium).  Another cardiologist said that Bugsy was, in his experience,
borderline Congestive Heart Failure.
 
So, after more tears than I know what to do with, I went home with Lasix,
enacard and digoxin.
 
Other than the cough, which I interpreted as Left Mainstem Brochus
Compression, he had no other signs.  He is a 6 1/2 year old (Canadian)
late-neutered male, (gorgeous) sable ferret, a 'first born' (first ever)
and loveable mama's boy.  He came from a private breeder (unique pet store
in Vancouver) and I was convinced he would see me through vet school.  I
really can't imagine life without him.  I'm still in shock.
 
Right now I'm still fighting ECE in another of my babies.  How Bugsy never
got hit I will never know..a godsend..a gift.  (he had one mildly bad day
and that was it).  And, I have two girls ready for bilateral
adrenalectomies (yes, the same ones, we got delayed for many reasons
including ECE), and just lost a gorgeous dark-eyed white cuddler, Spikey,
to sepsis and DIC secondary to a suppurative prostatitis.  I never wanted
to learn about all the ferret diseases first hand..not like this.
 
I would like, from any vets, to discuss Bugsy's case based on your
experiences BECAUSE, the vets here have told me they have little/I think
they said NO experience at all with ferrets.  I have all the books but
there is little to nothing in there that connects with me in any way I can
understand for what this all means to Bugsy.  I would appreciate hearing
what you know based on experiences and if you have any knowledge of things
that are unique to ferrets, not unique, things I should know..or things I
already do know.  I was told, based on the pulmonary venous congestion,
6months from one vet, 3-6 from another, whereas a third (all three at the
university lol) got upset with me for being so upset cause well, she
thought I didn't know enough to decide what this all meant....sigh.  Does
anyone know if this is true -6 months?.  I heard stories online about
ferrets going on up to 2 years after first presenting with CHF.  However, I
have no idea what sort of heart problems put them into Congestive Heart
Failure.
 
RIght now, Bugsy is on 2mg/kg lasix twice a day, 1/2mg enacard every other
day and .01mg/kg Cardoxin once a day.
 
If anyone VET, or 'parent' has any thoughts,You can write to me personally
or via this email list.
Thank you again for listening,
 
Michaela Maurice
College of Veterinary Medicine
Ohio State University
Class of 2002
[Posted in FML issue 2896]